House teetering after SH2 slip

A man whose home is teetering on the edge of a slip that blocked State Highway 2 in Upper Hutt blames the New Zealand Transport Agency.

Kevin Jones rushed home from work at lunchtime to find his house 10m away from the edge of a slip that blocked State Highway 2 at Te Marua, 6km northeast of Upper Hutt.

Nobody has been able to tell him whether his house is safe to go back to, but he planned to return with his wife and three of his seven children tonight, he told NZPA.

"(NZTA) is ultimately responsible for this slip and they don't seem to be very concerned at all, everyone else seems to be concerned about it - so I'm left a little bit in no man's land now."

NZTA owned the land that slipped and Mr Jones said a concrete support across part of the hill should have been extended, which would have stopped the slip from happening.

"It's probably just a matter of time before there was going to be a problem and of course here we are."

He had tried to call the agency "for months" but nobody had returned his calls, he said.

Council engineers would now be following up the problem with NZTA.

The area was due for heavy rain tonight and tomorrow, which could endanger his house further, Mr Jones said.

"Fingers crossed we'll be here tomorrow."

NZTA Wellington operations manager Mark Owen said Mr Jones' concerns were being looked into and representatives had met with him today to discuss the issues he had raised.

"We are considering what improvements can be made to stabilise the hillside and have specialist geotechnical engineers on site assisting. We will be in touch with Mr Jones when we have more finalised plans," Mr Owen said.

Meanwhile, minor slips have been reported on Paekakariki Hill Road and police are urging drivers to be cautious.

WET WEATHER CRASHES

Earlier today, a driver involved in a three-car crash on Paekakariki Hill Road left the scene before police arrived.

The accident happened in a gully on the hill side of the road just before 9am.

Police said one of the cars had driven off and two others were pulled up on the side of the road.

No one was injured and traffic was not affected.

At 9.10am there was a minor accident on State Highway 1, near the turn off to Southward Car Museum, at Otaihanga.

Traffic along State Highway 2 was congested this morning because of rain and a minor accident at the intersection with SH1 under the Ngauranga Gorge flyover about 8.30am.

Acting Inspector Bruce Mackay said drivers had to be patient with delays caused by the weather and should watch their following distances.

- with The Dominion Post

- NZPA