Demolition plan leaves cars trapped – and a fish dinner sitting on the kitchen bench.
The McDonald family was looking forward to tucking into a nice Thursday night meal of snapper. It might not be so nice by next March.
Pete McDonald got a kilogram of snapper and cod out of his freezer on the morning of Thursday November 17 to defrost, then left for work.
He would never get to eat his dinner. His family was not allowed to return home, and their fish sits untouched on the bench a month later at the Maison Cabriole apartments in New Zealand.
If it’s not already rotting up a stench, it will be by March, when the McDonalds may be allowed to return home.
They are among as many as 200 residents and 40 neighbouring businesses forced to leave because of fears the neighbouring Reading Cinema car parking building was at risk of imminent collapse after the Kaikoura quake.
On Thursday it was confirmed the car park will be demolished, but that may not be complete until March, residents have been told.
“It’s just going to be a disgusting, filthy mess,” McDonald said. “It’s in a snaplock bag – but I’m not sure that’s going to help.”
Neighbour Rob Zorn is also looking forward to the car park being torn down, as he has been living at a friend’s place since he was given two minutes to evacuate the Maison Cabriole with whatever possessions he could carry.
But the moment it comes down will also mean kissing his BMW goodbye.Zorn’s 7-series 2002 model has been stuck in the car park since the evacuation, and will be one of nine cars demolished along with the parking building because it is not safe to retrieve them.
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