DELIVERED
Shakira Wade and her family were traveling south from Auckland when they hit the large slip that had fallen over SH3 at Urenui.
A New Plymouth woman has described the panic that ensued after her family’s car struck a large landslide Monday night that overturned both lanes of State Highway 3 near Urenui.
Shakira Wade was sleeping in the back seat of her family’s car when they hit the skid around 10:40 PM.
“All I heard was ‘what’s that?’ And then there was a bang, and then my sister-in-law said we had crashed.
“I looked outside and we were in the mud.”
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The family had traveled down from Auckland and Wade said she was “pretty sure” the land was still slipping away when they got there.
“Dad told us to get out because we saw smoke coming from his car.”
Another car was already in the skid, Wade said, and when they got out, the mud was knee-high.
“I just panicked.”
She said her grandmother had died that same night, and that they had to “wait for ages” for a ride to New Plymouth.
While their car was being towed out of the mud and drivable, there was no way they could get out of New Plymouth to pick it up, Wade said.
Police received a call about the slip around 10:45 p.m. Monday.
It blocked the entire road, but no cars were trapped underneath, police said.
The road was opened to one lane at 4 a.m. Tuesday and Waka Kotahi has warned drivers of delays while traveling through the route as it is being cleared.