A group of trampers on the Routeburn Track woke early this morning to an earthquake-like shaking and roar that turned out to be a landslide, narrowly missing their hut.

The slip clipped the edge of the Howden Hut's sleeping quarters and kitchen area, but destroyed the toilet block and another out building.

Will Steel, of Christchurch, has spent the past six weeks walking the Te Araroa Trail and had taken a detour to walk the Routeburn Track. Severe flooding in Fiordland meant the hut was full – 30 people, plus the hut ranger, took shelter there last night, two more than the number of bunks so two slept on mattresses on the floor.

About 1.30am they were woken by an odd noise.

"It sounded like a freight train sort of noise, that rumbling," Mr Steel said. "The whole house rocked as we got pushed. It was earthquake-like."

As the rumble began, one man had got up from his bunk to figure out where it was coming from. Just after he did, the top two bunks collapsed as a large tree brought down in the slide pushed through the back wall, Mr Steel said.

Two bunks collapsed in the impact.

The Southland App caught up with seven of the hut dwellers this morning as they as they enjoyed food and hot drinks laid on by the Te Anau community and marvelled at how lucky they were, following their successful evacuation. The trampers had been ferried out in groups, some taken to Glenorchy depending on weather and flying conditions at the time.

Mr Steel said the man who had got up from his bunk in the nick of time had done so because he noticed water coming. It was at that point the tree hit the hut "like a javelin" into the corner. His wife, in the next bunk, was briefly trapped but able to be quickly pulled to safety, unharmed.

With noise from rain, wind and thunder, and pitch dark with no electricity, the seven in Te Anau said they still weren't exactly sure what had happened and things were a bit chaotic for a bit. However, they were all full of praise for their hut warden, Andrea, who they said had been a calm and reassuring influence even before the landslide hit. She radioed for assistance and got the group working together to pack up, and move and stack tables to shore up joists in the kitchen area that had been damaged near where the two extras had been sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

The trampers worked together to stack tables to shore up ceiling joists in the kitchen area.

Daylight revealed just how close the landslide was to their sleeping quarters.

"She just took it all in her stride," Mr Steel said. "She deserves a really big callout".

All seven said they were lucky to also be among such a level-headed and supportive group. Nobody panicked, they just sat companionably in the dark waiting for dawn to reveal the damage and bring help.

"About 4 in the morning someone found a guitar and we all started singing."

As it started getting light they ventured outside and realised just how lucky they had been. The entire toilet block had been swept away, neither of the two helipads could be reached and the landslide had formed a temporary dam which had caused the lake to rise. They all took numerous photos to document their luck as they waited for the helicopters to arrive.

All were hugely complimentary of the rescue effort and the support they had received on arrival in Te Anau.

Emergency Management Southland reporters the evacuation of trampers from huts throughout Fiordland is now almost complete. Emergency Management Southland controller Angus McKay said most of the huts have now been cleared including Island Lake Hut, Hidden Falls Hut, Gunns Camp, Big Bay Pike Hut and Pike Lodge. 

More than 50 have been processed at the welfare centre in Te Anau.

Routeburn Track evacuees enjoy the hospitality of Te Anau volunteers after being airlifted to safety hours after a landslide the Howden Hut where they were staying. From left: Will Steel, of Christchurch, Peter Vella, of Auckland, Joshua Moffitt, Suzanne Second, Caitlin Moffitt, and Mark Second, all of Newcastle, Australia, and Kristin Second, of Auckland.