By mid-March they had mapped nearly 5,000 landslides from aerial photos and satellite imagery. You can read more in our earthquake landslide update, which includes some before and after photos of the partial collapse of one of the landslide dams.

But in the meantime, bits of the rest of New Zealand continued to fall down – here are some of the highlights (or for some people, lowlights).

Wai Pingau Stream, Taranaki

A large landslide into the sea was spotted by a helicopter pilot just south of the Wai Pingau Stream, north of Urenui near the Whitecliffs walkway on the Taranaki coast on 8 November. Although it can't definitely be attributed to an earthquake, there was a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, 10 kilometres north of Opunake (about 75 km away) at 6am on the same morning which was felt across the region.

November rain

Bookending the 14 November earthquake were two heavy rainfall events in Wellington and the upper South Island. 82 mm of rain fell in 24 hours in the capital on Friday 11 November, which is more than half the average rainfall for November. Radio New Zealand reported that the rain triggered more than 70 landslides in Wellington. Although none were major, 11 houses in Mornington and Kaiwharawhara were evacuated as a precaution.

Four days later, on 15 November, as if a major earthquake the day before wasn’t enough, a further months’ worth of rainfall fell in the Wellington area – 90 mm at Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt and 116 mm at Battle Hill in less than 24 hours. Landslides closed SH1, SH2 and SH58, and caused damage to properties in Aro Valley and Owhiro Bay. Houses were also evacuated in Island Bay, Paremata, Porirua and Pukerua Bay.

On the other side of the Strait, a huge 251 mm of rain was recorded in 48 hours at Rai Valley between Picton and Nelson. Landslides closed Queen Charlotte Drive, Kenepuru Road, Titirangi Road, and Awatere Valley Road, and reduced SH6 near Havelock and Takaka Hill Road to one lane. Arthur’s Pass and Lewis Pass roads were also closed because of flooding and landslides, bringing travel in the upper South Island to a standstill, with SH1 closed along the Kaikoura coast.

Elephant Rock loses trunk

Apart from the Kaikoura Inland Route and SH1 south of Kaikoura reopening, the most exciting landslide news in December was the loss of Elephant Rock’s trunk. Elephant Rock, near Tongaporutu's Three Sisters on the Taranaki coast, partially collapsed on 5 December, leaving it trunkless.

January's West Coast weather bomb

Central and southern New Zealand were hit by a rapidly deepening low pressure system on 18 and 19 January – an unusual event during summer – which brought wind, rain and more unwelcome cold.

The South Island West Coast was worst affected by the heavy rain, with more than 250 mm of rain recorded in 24 hours at Arthur’s Pass. This rain triggered landslides which closed SH73 from Arthur’s Pass to Jacksons, the largest of which was at Deception Point where 20,000 m3 of rock – the equivalent of two Cardboard Cathedrals – covered the road. (A further 3,000 m3 of rock fell here during heavy rainfall on 1 February.) In Otira a landslide moved a shed, destroyed a car and diverted a creek through a house.

Landslides also closed or reduced to one lane SH7 from Culverden to Springs Junction, SH6 between Murchison and Greymouth and SH65.

And in sad news for SH7 travellers and après tramping enthusiasts, the Sylvia Flat hot pools in the Lewis River near Lewis Pass were buried by a landslide from the eroding bank above the pools. However, it’s likely that the Lewis River will eventually move the landslide debris further downstream and the pools can be dug out again for the enjoyment of those who don’t mind braving the rabid sandflies.

And a bit further afield in the Manawatu, in what may or may not be a related event, a landslide from the banks of the Rangitikei River, 12 kilometres south of Mangaweka partially dammed the river. The landslide initially appeared to have blocked the entire river channel but by mid-morning the river had cut a 10-metre wide channel through the landslide material – a relatively soft mudstone – allowing water to flow through.

Not an eruption, just a landslide

Trampers in Tongariro National Park reported some large rockfalls on the northern side of Mt Ngauruhoe in late January. The Department of Conservation released a statement saying there was no indication that the rockfalls were caused by an earthquake or volcanic activity, but were instead triggered by high rainfall over the previous few days.

Horowhenua Waitangi weekend rainfall

Horowhenua District Council had to shut off Levin’s water treatment plant and issue boil water notices after continuous rain in the Ohau River catchment triggered landslides which muddied the water. The rain also triggered a landslide on Gladstone Road near Levin, which blocked access to 35 properties.

Footstool rockfall, Mt Cook National Park

Dr Sam McColl, a lecturer in physical geography at Massey University, noted a large rockfall from the Footstool near Mt Cook on 20 February. The Department of Conservation asked our landslide scientists to assess the risk from further rockfalls to Sefton Bivouac, below the Footstool.

While we think there is the potential for more rock to fall from the Footstool, the risk to Sefton Bivouac is very small as the distance to the bivouac is more than 1 km (it would take a huge rockfall to get that far). Sefton Bivouac remains open, but climbers in Mt Cook National Park do need to be aware of the increased risk of rock fall in the Footstool area.

Franz Josef rockfall

During February a new rockfall was noted by Department of Conservation staff above the walkway to the Franz Josef Glacier viewing platform. The Department asked our landslide scientists for advice on how best to manage the rockfall risk – up to 7000 people per day use the walkway in peak season.

We sent a survey team down to Franz Josef to collect baseline survey data for future monitoring and to assess the risk. Using high-quality topographic data and rock avalanche modelling we determined that DoC’s existing track management strategy – closing the track during intense or long rainfall events – was sufficient to manage the rockfall risk.

Other landslides and rockfalls

Other smaller landslides over the summer at times blocked the usual suspects: SH2 Rimutaka Road, the Kapiti commuter train line, SH73 between Arthur’s Pass and Kumara, and SH6 between Ross and Haast. SH1 between Oaro and Peketa, south of Kaikoura, was often closed, sometimes for days, by reactivation of landslides from the 14 November Kaikoura earthquake. Landslides also closed SH50 at the base of Bluff Hill in Napier, main roads in Marlborough and Northland.

The Tasman Tempest: Heavy rain over Northland, Auckland, Waikato, including Coromandel and Bay of Plenty in early March triggered many landslides. We didn’t launch a GeoNet landslide rapid response for this event, because landsliding occurred over a wide area and with the flooding and landslides affecting many roads it would have been difficult to move around. We’ll be keeping an eye out for satellite imagery to help us understand the landslide impact of this event – and we’ll have more in our Autumn round up.