An Australian visitor had to seek refuge in a swimming pool to escape a landslide that ravaged a campsite in New Zealand, leaving several individuals missing.

Campers at Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park on the North Island experienced intense tremors and heard frantic cries as the landslide hit around 9:30 am on Thursday.

The disaster, triggered by unprecedented rainfall in recent days, obliterated caravans, tents, vehicles, and restroom facilities.

Sonny Worrall, hailing from Newcastle on the NSW coast, was in the water when the catastrophe struck. He swiftly jumped into an adjacent pool to dodge a caravan in his path.

“While swimming, I heard an enormous landslide behind me, accompanied by the sound of trees snapping. A caravan nearly collided with me, forcing me to dive into the next pool,” he recounted to Stuff news.

‘The caravan broke through the cinder block wall, crashed in, and luckily, I got out of there in time, because where I was swimming is now covered up with dirt, and there’s a tree laying on where I was swimming.

‘I was just fearing for my life. It was the scariest thing I ever felt in my life. It was like a movie… I was just fearing for my life. I’m shaking right now.’

Several people, including multiple children, remain unaccounted for on Thursday afternoon as dog teams joined search efforts. 

Australian tourist Sonny Worrall (pictured) feared for his life as he dived away from a tumbling caravan during a horrific landslide on New Zealand’s North Island

Shocked campers felt violent shaking and heard screams as the landslide struck Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park at about 9.30am on Thursday

Locals and passers-by rushed to help free those in the displaced caravan by climbing onto the roof of a displaced toilet block. 

Desperate screams were heard underneath the twisted rubble, which fell silent after 15 minutes.

Police District Commander Superintendent Tim Anderson said the number of people missing is in the ‘single figures’, adding that it is ‘possible we will find someone alive’. 

The campground has been evacuated and the public have been urged to stay away, as recue efforts continue at the campground. 

No one has yet been rescued from the rubble.

‘We’re going right through [the night] until we’ve rescued everyone,’ Fire and Emergency NZ commander William Park told reporters.

‘It was a significant landslip and the priority was life safety. 

‘It’s a complex and high-risk environment.’

Mr Worrall said he was almost hit by a caravan during the slip

Several people remained unaccounted for after the landslide at the base of Mauao

Fisherman Alister Hardy heard ‘rolling thunder and cracking of trees’, before looking up and seeing ‘the whole hillside give way’. 

‘There were people running and screaming and I saw people get bowled. There are people trapped,’ he told the NZ Herald.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said that his government was doing everything to support those affected.

‘To the emergency responders, Defence Force personnel, and all those who are putting themselves in harm’s way to keep Kiwis safe, the whole country is grateful,’ he tweeted.

‘We continue to urge people in affected areas to follow the advice of local authorities.’

More than 200km north of Auckland, Mount Maunganui is a popular holiday hotspot famous for its extinct volcano, a sacred Maori site boasting ocean-view hiking trails.

It comes after Tauranga – the closest city to Mount Maunganui – received 295mm of rain in the 30 hours to 6am Thursday.

Huge swathes of North Island were smashed by torrential rain on Wednesday, with meteorologists MetService issuing a rare red weather warning for a ‘threat to life’ in several regions and a state of local emergency.

Locals and passers-by had rushed to help those in the caravan 

The campground has been evacuated and the public urged to avoid the area

In Warkworth near Auckland, a man in his 40s was swept away in his car in the swollen Mahurangi River, while a passenger managed to scramble to safety.

Police continued their search for the missing motorist on Thursday, while further east, rescue efforts were underway for stranded locals in the remote Tairawhiti region.

People have been trapped on rooftops in Te Araroa, with Mark Law – the helicopter pilot involved in rescue efforts after the deadly 2019 Whakaari-White Island volcanic eruption – told Radio NZ he was assisting with checks in the area.

Another couple in Welcome Bay, near Tauranga, were also rescued after a landslip hit their house, with one seriously injured, according to local MP Tom Rutherford.

Thousands of people in Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Tairawhiti were also left without power after the storm and flooding.