Are we slipping away?

A devastating consequence of continued rain in these parts is landslips - these are chunks of hillsides slipping away.

It's a regular sight to see a pile of rocks and dirt at the side of roads where mini slips have occurred and just recently the roads up to Khandallah were subject to some slip prevention measures. This involved mens swinging from ropes to clear the loose debris to prevent is crashing on passing traffic.

On Wednesday this week a house in Lower Hutt (just across the Wellington Harbour) was demolished before it was pushed down a gully. This was because it's foundations disappeared with a landslip leaving is hanging in the air, threatening the houses further down the hill. It was a tragic sight to watch on TV this home, complete with furnishings, crashing into the gully. Luckily the homeowners were insured but it can't make up for the fact all their worldly goods disappeared down the hill.

This is a serious problem around Wellington because houses cling to the hillside. Whilst modern house building and planning regulations mean that special engineering is in place but for other homes (like the one I've mentioned built 40 years ago) no such provision was made. Clearing hillsides to build seems like the right thing to do with a growing population but it has a destabilising effect on the landscape and it's the law of gravity that prevails eventually.

Fortuantly we're building our new house in Kaitoke on a flat building site but we'll have to invest heavily in ground engineering to ensure that one day our drive doesn't slip away down the 20-25m drop of our hillside. In the meantime we're living safe on top of the hill although starting to get used to the regular falls on the buses as we commute home up the hills and just hope that one day nothing comes crashing down on the car.

Once again I am struck how the weather impacts on how we live here in New Zealand - the extreme winds and lashing rain (suposedly the worse for years) are almost of arctic proportions so if you've seen the movie The March of the Penguins you'll know how strong it can be!