Some residents of a Tauranga street where a large slip forced evacuations say they didn't hear anything to alert them as tonnes of hillside slipped against a house.

One family were evacuated from their home on Moiri Place, Maungatapu on Wednesday afternoon, with others were encouraged to self-evacuate if they observed further landslide movement during the night.

Briarly Knight, who lives in house next door to the affected property, says all the neighbours came out of the houses at about 4pm when the slip happened.

'When the earth fell, it caused a tree to fall on a bit of the house and land in front. There was a Canadian couple and the baby inside the house, so it was lucky they were not hurt emergency services arrived and they were evacuated.

'The whole thing took a couple of hours. It's strange that it just came down and we didn't even hear anything. It had been raining, but it was quite unexpected.”

A neighbour in a house behind the slip says the council are working to clear the slip this morning.

'Lucky no one was hurt because it's mostly earth that fell beside the house rather than on top. We heard a loud noise which sounded like a train when the slip came down and knocked over the tree. We rushed outside but after a bit we could see no one was hurt.”

Ailton Rocha, who was working in a house nearby, says it's 'a bit of a worry that the land is so unstable. There had been a lot of heavy rain”.

Mark Wassung, an architect whose house is 100m from the incident, says there was no need for him to evacuate, as his house was not close to the bank.

'What we have noticed is a large elevated water table on our grass though from all the recent rain - we've lived there seven years and never seen it like that- we had no concerns for our house as it's set to the front well away from the bank”

Tauranga City Council regulatory and compliance general manager Sarah Omundsen says they were advised of the slip around 4pm Wednesday.

Sarah told SunLive a geotech assessment will be undertaken on Thursday morning when improved daylight will allow for better investigation of any damage sustained to the property and surrounding areas.

"Engineers will assess what repairs or actions are required for the property to be deemed safe.

"If nearby residents see any further land movement they are advised to self-evacuate and stay with family or friends."

For any slips, fallen trees or flooding in your area Tauranga City Council advises the community to call 07-5777-000 immediately.

-Additional reporting by Annemarie Quill/Stuff.