Mount Maunganui landslide: Maccanico family almost left before tragedy
A report by a retired judge into a fatal landslide at a Mount Maunganui holiday park found that Tauranga City Council missed multiple opportunities to evacuate campers. The tragedy claimed the lives of two teenagers after staff encouraged the family to stay despite severe weather warnings.
Why it matters
The report highlights systemic failures in local government disaster management and raises questions about accountability in public safety during extreme weather events.
The Maccanico family had decided to cut their summer camping holiday in Mount Maunganui short, with bad weather coming.
But a campground staff member convinced the Aucklanders to stay.
Two days later, a landslide at the camp took the lives of teenagers Sharon Maccanico and her boyfriend, Max Furse-Kee.
The 15-year-old Pakūranga College students were the youngest of the six victims of the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park tragedy on January 22.
The family’s story was outlined in retired High Court judge Paul Davison’s review into the landslide for Tauranga City Council, which owns the iconic campground at the foot of Mauao.
The review, released on Wednesday, found the council “missed several opportunities” to evacuate campers in the 24 hours before the disaster – starting from when a red heavy rain warning was issued.
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