The Scenic Drive house was severely damaged and at risk of collapsing. Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
A road in West Auckland remains closed Wednesday morning after a red-stickered house started slipping down towards Scenic Drive amid heavy rain the previous night.
A neighbour was evacuated and diversions were in place.
Auckland Council said the house was due to be demolished, and it was working with the owner on planning for a controlled demolition.
The house was one of several on a particular stretch of Scenic Drive in Swanson that had been condemned as a result of flooding in late January.
The council will be reassessing its options on what to do with those houses.
Emergency services warned people to avoid the area. Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
In a statement, police said motorists were advised to avoid the area and take an alternative route.
"Diversions are in place at Puketaha Road and Waitākere Road."
Elham's home was next door to the collapsing house and was also red-stickered. When her neighbour messaged her last night to let her know of the collapse, she felt like crying, saying it was sad for her neighbour as well.
She and husband Reza bought their property just last year.
"Here having the house was really important for me, and maybe the only thing I have here in New Zealand."
Sue lived nearby, and told RNZ the house had been visibly moving for three or four weeks.
"We've seen one side of it being pushed forward... from a slip coming down the back, but it's just progressed and it's been going faster in the last week or so."
By Saturday, one side of the house had been pushed forward and the wall on the other side had buckled.
"There's obviously a big weight of dirt on behind the house pushing it forward."
Sue's property was on a flat area, but a house opposite had been red-stickered following the anniversary weekend floods.
Living near homes being red-stickered and people having to leave in a short space of time was "very unsettling", she said.
"You can really feel for people in Gisborne and people who are having movements in the ground. Flooding's one thing but movement in the ground is another thing.
"It felt like an earthquake zone when [Cyclone Gabrielle] was happening because Scenic Drive was moving as well."
Waitākere Ranges Local Board chairperson Greg Presland said many families were already on tenterhooks and this news would escalate their stress levels.
This situation was triggering for red- and yellow-stickered property owners, he said.
