Landslide threatens Glen Massey home

IAIN MCGREGOR/Waikato Times

SLIP SLIDING AWAY: Keith Pugh checks the view from his home.

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A Glen Massey couple have been forced out of their home because of the threat of a landslide from the towering hill behind them.

Keith Pugh and Margaret Smale have spent the past two nights in a Hamilton motel after being compulsorily evacuated from their Wilton Colleries Rd home in the heart of Glen Massey.

Heavy rainfall late last week exacerbated problems high on the hill behind their property that Miss Smale believes can be traced to subdivision and stormwater works which date back more than 18 months.

Since Thursday "orange porridgey mud" has been trickling down the hill, with debris coming through the back fence and threatening the house and garage.

The Waikato District Council began emergency construction of a retaining wall to deflect any further slips away from the house, and ordered the couple out.

But Miss Smale said she first registered her concerns about subdivision and stormwater work more than 12 months ago, after discovering a major 5-metre crack on the hillside.

"Putting in a stormwater heading at the head of the valley was never a smart idea," she said.

"I raised it with the council at the time, and was more worried when I looked at it three weekend ago and saw the slippage had increased.

"We're getting a lot of `it's not our problem, it's not our fault'.

"But they can fight over it with the subdividers. As long as there is no damage to the house."

Mr Pugh is recovering from a stroke suffered two years ago, and the couple were unenthusiastic about a temporary shift to premises not set up for disabled living.

Miss Smale was annoyed with the inconvenience.

"If people had basically said in the first place, 'OK, look, it's not a good idea to have a whole lot of water halfway up a hill' or `gee, this could cause problems down below', we wouldn't be in this situation."

Glen Massey resident Dean Barham said the debris made a spectacular sight. "It looked like a lava flow," he said.

Mr Barham has volunteered to take some of the dirt or mud away to another site.