Mornington Peninsula house falls off cliff in landslide, Victoria

One person was taken to hospital after a house collapsed in a landslide on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula on Tuesday morning.

The house collapsed on Penny Lane in McRae around 9am on Tuesday.

Ambulance Victoria said paramedics responded at about 8.45am and a person believed to be in a stable condition had been taken to Frankston Hospital. Mornington Peninsula Shire confirmed the injured person was a council worker.

Chris Gregory, operations manager for the state emergency services, said multiple nearby homes remain a concern and six have been evacuated.

“Some of these are vacant holiday homes and the residents of others are working with councils and other agencies to ensure they have a safe place to stay,” Gregory told ABC Radio Melbourne.

The destroyed houses stood empty after being hit by a smaller landslide about a week ago. Geotechnical experts are monitoring it.

Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Anthony Marsh told Guardian Australia that after the first incident on January 5, the council notified the property's owner and its insurance company of the work that needed to be carried out. Marsh said the house was vacated by then.

“There may be water present … and there are concerns about the stability of the site,” he said.

Marsh said a council worker was at the scene investigating when the house collapsed on Tuesday morning.

Marsh said the incident had been reported to WorkSafe and the council's investigation was ongoing, with a technical engineer on site.

Authorities cut utility services to nearby properties and the Nepean Highway was closed between Macrae and Dromana.

“We do have road closures in place and we will lift them as quickly as possible,” Gregory said.

Marsh said the Penny Lane area will be closed until at least 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Tanina Osborne, who swims in the area every morning, posted a video of the scene on Facebook saying the house appeared to have collapsed onto another property.

Osborne said she heard “a huge rolling sound, like a truckload of rocks had just been thrown to the ground.”

“My husband and I were running across the street and I saw this house falling down the hill – I'd never seen anything like it,” she said later.

Osborne said three weeks ago, an outlet near their daily swimming spot had been flooding into the bay due to a problem with the water main on the road above the landside.

An advisory alert for the incident warned that the landslides could continue to move for days.

Kim, a caller to Melbourne's 3AW radio station, witnessed the landslide and said the house had fallen behind another home.

She said she discovered the house had collapsed while driving for a morning walk.

“It was behind other houses or units and this house had completely collapsed… it fell behind another house,” she said.

Two houses on the top of the hill were not affected, and units on the street remained standing, King said.

“It rained heavily two days ago,” she said, adding: “The house is built on a fairly steep slope.”

The county established a community relief center in Dromana for affected residents.