Two more Dunedin homes have been evacuated as more damage from a recent slip has been revealed.
Dunedin City Council issued two dangerous building notices yesterday in the seaside suburb of St Clair, bringing the number of evacuated homes to six since the slip was noticed on a property in Allandale Road late last week, after recent heavy rainfall.
Three houses being evacuated last week Photo: Otago Daily Times
Engineers visited the site yesterday, Dunedin City Council community services general manager Simon Pickford said.
"The geotech engineers did some more assessments and they noticed there was some cracking under a house next door to the house on Allandale [Rd] that had the slip. So we've served a dangerous building notice on that home and obviously the home below that on Motu St," he said.
"So two homes in addition to the ones we've already done."
The half-metre-wide crack was noticed on a property in Allandale Road last week.
EQC was alerted and in turn alerted the Dunedin City Council, which made the call that the homes were not safe.
There was no timeframe for the residents return yet, as the safety of the site is in the hands of engineers, Mr Pickford said.
"If they [engineers] were up there today and decided 'Yes, the houses are stable' people could be back - it's very difficult to say.
"But with the Christmas holidays coming up it's really awful timing for the residents."
It seemed unlikely residents would be able to return to their homes before Christmas, but the council was liaising with them to ensure they had all the possessions they needed, Mr Pickford said.
The council had also spoken to the police and they agreed to carry out extra patrols in the area to ensure the security of the homes while they sit vacant.
Work on the site was a priority for all involved and residents would be allowed to return as soon as it was deemed safe, Mr Pickford said.