A digger and several trucks are clearing a large slip blocking the road on The Esplanade, Houghton Bay.

The close of winter delivered a lasting reminder of a season dominated by slips in the capital.

Flats in Aro Valley and Wadestown were evacuated early on Friday morning after heavy rain brought down hillsides, topping off a season which delivered about 1000 recorded slips.

Met Service figures show during Thursday through to 8am on Friday morning the city received 58 millimetres of rain – about half the historic average for the month of August.

STUFF.CO.NZ Large slips across Wellington.

Residents of the Aro St apartment block were woken at 4am on Friday by a rumbling "similar to an earthquake".

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"It woke me up and violently shook the property," said David, one of about 10 residents evacuated.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF A rock slip blocks part of The Esplanade along Houghton Bay, Wellington.

The slip caused significant damage to a carport, where a car had been parked hours before.

"There had been a rockfall yesterday [Thursday] so when that happened I actually moved my car out," David said.

"There's been lots of slips over the past months and all they [the council] do is come and clean it up each time."

GED CANN This Barnard St flat has been evacuated after a slip compromised the building's foundations.

This may be changing in the coming months, with Wellington City Council (WCC) expecting a detailed geotechnical analysis of Wellington's hillsides completed by October.

Chief resilience officer Mike Mendonca said the council was working with GNS Science to plot high-risk areas, which could then be used to inform monitoring and target mitigation efforts.

"Unfortunately that's not going to help us with this little flurry we are having at the moment, but we're hoping in time that will inform what we do in future," he said.

ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF The slip is close to Wellington's south coast.

Designing slip-resistance in new homes was straightforward, Mendonca said, but future-proofing older houses was more complex and expensive.

Residents' could help secure their homes by checking that drainage was occurring as it should be, retaining walls were free of cracks, and homes were secured to their piles.

Friday bore a blunt reminder of this, with residents evacuated from a Barnard St property in Wadestown, where a slip undermined the foundations of the house.

SARAH GUNN A slip at the Pass of Branda from the Seatoun side in Wellington.

One of the occupants said he had left for work in the morning, only to receive a call telling him he had 30 minutes to collect essentials and leave.

A small amount of mud had come down on Thursday, but by the morning, the cablecar he used to reach his home was obstructed, and he was forced to climb out to reach the street.

"I don't know where to stay, that's pretty much the bottom line," he said.

GED CANN/STUFF A large slip triggered the evacuation of flats on Aro St in Wellington's Aro Valley.

"I have a dog as well, so I don't think the dog will be able to stay at the backpackers."

A council spokesman said a support centre had been set up at the Aro Valley Community Centre, and welfare staff would be in contact with the evacuees to see if they needed help finding temporary accommodation.

This winter was particularly wet for Wellington, with July and August both having markedly more rainfall than the 10-year average.

MAARTEN HOLL/STUFF A slip in Aro Valley, Wellington, has caused significant damage to a carport near the back of a Aro St property which, fortunately, didn't have a car inside.

There were 30 reported slips around the city over Thursday night and Friday morning, occurring around the city, from Karori to Seatoun to the south coast, and many other spots.

The Esplanade in Houghton Bay was closed to traffic in both directions. Contractors arrived on site near The Pines function centre just before midday.

On Chaytor St in Karori a slip closed the northbound lane.

RUBY MACANDREW/STUFF People were evacuated from Aro Valley, Wellington, homes after a slip came down a nearby steep hillside.

The Pass of Branda Rd between Seatoun and Breaker Bay also remained closed by a large slip.

Ngaio Gorge Rd avoided another closure, after a significant amount of debris was stopped by the shipping containers set up on site.

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RNZ A block of flats in Aro Street has been evacuated after a large slip has come down behind it.

MAARTEN HOLL/STUFF On Chaytor St in Karori, a large slip came down early on Friday morning, closing the northbound lane at 4:30am.

TOM PULLAR-STRECKER/STUFF A large slip came down on to Garden Rd, in the Wellington suburb of Northland.