Wellington Traffic Issue (16 August)

[Pex Adams]

14.03pm 16/08/06 Oriental Parade has been shut - no through traffic allowed. This will be re-assessed at 3pm.
A slip about 25m high and about 25 metres wide occurred due to the face of the cliff falling down. This cliff is at an angle of at least 70-80 degrees!
Rubble smashed through two floors of the one apartment building and tons of rubble came to rest in the backyard of the adjacent building.
Debris are constantly falling down the cliff.
Huge cracks (500mm in diameter) have appeared at the top of the ridge and many tons of rubble will have to come down at some stage. No mitigation work can be done with allthat rubble still siiting on the face.
Four apartment buildings and two houses have been evacuated (two of the said apartment buildings look like houses to me!). These are all multi-million dollar structures (one house alone is valued at $2.73m!).
A total of 16 people have so far been evacuated. Other residents are turning up slowly and it was sad to see the shock on their faces..
Nobody wanted WEMO to arrange for accommodation, etc. They are all making their own arrangements (family, friends, hotels).
The Fire Service has handed the event over to Wellington City Council who now has sole responsibility.
Structural engineers and the insurance sector (EQC included) have inspected the site and a decision will be made later this afternoon whether to allow residents back in.
TV cameras and the media are all over the place - it seems that everyone is waiting for the 'big' slip to happen.

[Squeak the Rat]

Not good news.


We'll have to send in Snake Plisken to rescue the prime minister.

[Colapop]

This is seriously not good news. Two of our senior engineers (Structural/Earthquake) live in the area. One above the slip and one literally next door. The owner of the building affected is the father of one of the senior engineers in our Auckland office. Those poor council guys are gonna get blasted with super-technical help!!

[judecatmad]

Hope nobody needs to get out to the airport tonight...... Wellington roads are seriously not well equipped to handle anything going wrong

I do hope nobody gets hurt - and I also hope that those affected are well insured!

[bungbung]

Colapop,

Do you want to buy a cheap apartment? I hear the owners are wanting a quick sale:

http://www.open2view.com/Property/11...847f98f&page=2

[riffer]

I don't get it.

It pisses down for days, then we get one fine day and everything falls to pieces.

WTF???

[Wasp]

I'm told it rained last night, must have slept through it myself

[Colapop]

The slip isn't as bad as what the media makes out (as usual). It's not thousands of tonnes, it's only about a thousand. The apartments that it's behind are only about 2 years old so there's going to be a shit fight over this one.

[cowpoos]

14.03pm 16/08/06 Oriental Parade has been shut - no through traffic allowed. This will be re-assessed at 3pm.
A slip about 25m high and about 25 metres wide occurred due to the face of the cliff falling down. This cliff is at an angle of at least 70-80 degrees!
Rubble smashed through two floors of the one apartment building and tons of rubble came to rest in the backyard of the adjacent building.
Debris are constantly falling down the cliff.
Huge cracks (500mm in diameter) have appeared at the top of the ridge and many tons of rubble will have to come down at some stage. No mitigation work can be done with allthat rubble still siiting on the face.
Four apartment buildings and two houses have been evacuated (two of the said apartment buildings look like houses to me!). These are all multi-million dollar structures (one house alone is valued at $2.73m!).
A total of 16 people have so far been evacuated. Other residents are turning up slowly and it was sad to see the shock on their faces..
Nobody wanted WEMO to arrange for accommodation, etc. They are all making their own arrangements (family, friends, hotels).
The Fire Service has handed the event over to Wellington City Council who now has sole responsibility.
Structural engineers and the insurance sector (EQC included) have inspected the site and a decision will be made later this afternoon whether to allow residents back in.
TV cameras and the media are all over the place - it seems that everyone is waiting for the 'big' slip to happen.

hmmmm..... neat....can you milk cows? http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...019#post721019

[Steam]

Trying very hard to summon much sympathy for people who own or live in million dollar plus houses... trying... trying... straining...arrg...

nope, like a big constipated poo, the sympathy just won't come out.

[RantyDave]

Trying very hard to summon much sympathy for people who own or live in million dollar plus houses...

Yeah, my first reaction was "couldn't happen to nicer people". Like, they're all going to be insured. I noticed that none of them needed emergency housing afterwards ... well, tonight I guess. But I thought I was being really uncharible, and I was.

But actually, no, fuck it. It *is* nice that's it's not happened to someone poor for a change. That nobody has been left struggling, unlike that poor single mum whose house burned down. And some arsehole developer will have his butt in court before the end of the week over this.

Dave

[Swoop]

I am truly hoping that this landslip is just above the beehive......
I am willing to help assist with buckets... of water.

[Pex Adams]

hmmmm..... neat....can you milk cows? http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...019#post721019

Come on Poo's, after playing with the ladies Titties all day. I might get the idea that girls would want a little more from me than I'm willing to offer and we all know the stories of farmers walking across paddocks with ladders now don't we...

[magicfairy]

We used to live round the corner about 7 - 10 years ago and go for walks up the top of the hill. When those big apt blocks went up, the developers just sliced away the hillside that was covered in greenery and trees and to make a steep dirt bank that dropped steeply.
Don't think I'd live under that.

[Lou Girardin]

That fluttering sound we can hear is the chickens coming home to roost. All the shonky council inspections, developers shortcuts and the rest of the crap that's turning modern homes into little more than shacks.
Who's buy a newish house without damn near stripping it these days?
You just don't know what you're buying anymore.