Mauao Landslide

Monday 4 May 2026 marked an important step in the beginning of the restoration work on Mauao with a formal blessing on site, enabling re-entry onto the maunga for the commencement of essential repair works onsite. The blessing was a partnership between Tauranga City Council, the Mauao Trust and Ngā Poutiriao o Mauao, reflecting the shared responsibility and kaitiakitanga of Mauao.

Watch our video of the blessing

January’s severe weather event caused extensive damage to Mauao, including multiple landslides across the maunga. Council’s goal is to return Mauao to public use, but only when it is safe and sustainable to do so. 

Council is working closely with the Mauao Trust on all planning and decision-making for the mountain and surrounding areas. This partnership ensures cultural values, guardianship responsibilities and public safety are properly considered alongside technical and engineering assessments. 

Before Mauao can reopen, Council must be confident that public safety risks can be managed. This includes ensuring that: 

• Experts are confident the risk of further slips, rockfall and track failure can be managed. 
• Decisions are made about what remediation work is required, how complex it will be, and how it will be funded 
• Council continues to work alongside the Mauao Trust and tangata whenua, who are key partners in decisions about the maunga. 
• Ongoing independent reviews and investigations provide the information needed to support a safe reopening. 

Council is also considering a partial or staged reopening of the maunga, which could include some sections of the base track and summit routes reopening earlier than others. Any partial reopening would depend on safety assessments and engineering advice. Access will remain restricted until risks are acceptable.

On 21 January 2026, a state of emergency was declared across the Bay of Plenty region. Tauranga experienced extreme rainfall, with 199.3mm recorded on 21 January and a further 96.1mm on 22 January. This severe weather caused widespread damage across our city and region, including multiple landslides and damage to infrastructure. 

Mauao, our city’s treasured maunga (mountain), was particularly affected. Forty-two landslides occurred and, tragically, a large landslide above Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park claimed the lives of six people. Our thoughts remain with those who lost their lives across the region on 22 January, and with their families and loved ones. The devastating impacts of this weather event will continue to be felt by our city and our people for many years to come. 

Further across Tauranga, our city experienced widespread impacts, including a major landslide at Mangatawa, localised landslides, flooding, infrastructure damage, and multiple road closures. 

Police officially stood down their recovery operation at the Mauao landslide site on 1 February 2026. Following the handover from police, the site was officially moved into a recovery phase led by the Tauranga City Council to demobilise the recovery work, assess damage and work towards the safe reopening of Mauao. 

Following the severe weather event, specialist geologists and geotechnical engineers began assessing damage on Mauao to understand what had occurred, identify safety risks, and determine the best options to address at-risk areas. Tauranga City Council continues to work in partnership with Mauao Trust on any decisions relating to the maunga. 

The Rāhui placed by Tangata Whenua over parts of Waikorire (Pilot Bay) and Hīnekite (Mount Main Beach) following January’s severe weather event has been lifted. 

Videos

• Watch the latest update from Recovery Manager Charlie Rahiri on progress.
• Watch the Mauao community update – Thursday 17 September 2026. 
• Watch the Mauao community update – Thursday 30 April 2026.
• Read the Recovery Update from the Mayor and Councillors - March 2025 update 

Tauranga Recovery Plan

The Tauranga Recovery Plan is high level blueprint which sets a pathway for recovery works across the city. It’s a live and iterative document.

• Summary of Tauranga Recovery Plan 2026 (451kb pdf)
• Tauranga Recovery Plan 2026 (10mb pdf)

Trigger Action Response Plans

• Mount Maunganui – Harbour Side – Slope Stability Trigger Action Response Plan (‘TARP’) (4.1mb pdf)
• Mount Maunganui – Ocean Side – Slope Instability Trigger Action Response Plan (‘TARP’) (4.4mb pdf)

Quantitative Landslide Risk Assessment (QLRA)

• Quantitative Landslide Risk Analysis (14mb pdf)
• Landslide Rockfall Conceptual Remedial Solutions (4mb pdf)