Alister McHardy was going out to fish at sunrise on Thursday, when he noticed a ‘mountain of soil’ at the north end of the beach at Mount Maunganui

It was the “almighty cracking” that they heard first, an unmistakable deep rumble before the mountain gave way, swallowing up caravans and cars as it collapsed at speed on the campsite below. Aerial images show the aftermath of the landslide that struck New Zealand’s North Island on Thursday – a massive piece of brown earth gouged out of the green slope, flattened roofs and a few trees sticking out an unnatural angles.

“It was almost like the air pressure changed. It was a real powerful event,” says local Alister McHardy. “It just came down, a lot of cracking and people screaming and car alarms going off … The sounds of mayhem.”