RIVER INVADES MARTON

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 103, 14 February 1950, Page 2

RIVER INVADES MARTON

SERIOUS FLOODING HEAVY DAMAGE REPORTED (P.A.) WANGANUI, Peb. 13. Heavy rain in the Wanganui district culminated to-day in a sudr den flood which swept through the town of Marton, doing heavy damage. There have been three serious railway blockages, one on the Main Trunk line, one between Marton and Wanganui, and one on the Taranaki line. The flood receded from Marton tonight, leaving behind a great deal of silt and debris. Losses of livestock, though heavy, will probably not be as great as was at first feared. At Marton a start has been made to clear away the silt and get shopping and residential areas back to normal, which will take some days. The worst effect of the flood has been on the gas supply. The furnaces were flooded, and it will be come days before the manufacture of gas can be resumed. There is enough gas for normal use, and an appeal has been made to users to refrain from calling on the supply except for essential cooking. Torrential rain caused the Tutaenuj river to burst its banks and swirl through Marton at S o’clock this morning. Thirty homes had to be evacuated and there have been losses of stock.

An emergency meeting of the borough council was called this afternoon by the Mayor (Mr T. E. Barton), and it was decided to set up a relief organisation for those householders who had suffered loss. The Mayor opened the fund with a gift of £25.

For a time this morning Marton was almost isolated, and it was not until late this afternoon that the road to Taihape was opened. Traflic travelling south had to make a detour through Kawariki instead of going through Bulls. What surprised everybody'was the suddenness with which the flood rose and swept down Broadway to a depth of two to three feet. It entered shops and caused much damage to stock.

The Sash and Door Company was one of the principal sufferers, losing a great deal of timber. Cars Carried Along Streets

Cars in Broadway "were caught by the flood and some of them left with brakes off were moved along as the water rose and moved in waves down the street. One car parked in Hair street was carried 200 yards down the road. Much damage was done in the chenille factory, where machinery and bedspreads were ruined. Skerman and Grey streets suffered heavily, as they are in a low-lying part of the town. Houses on the eastern side of the town from Broadway to the Tutaenui stream down to Crofton corner felt the full force of the flood, and most of the homes had to be evacuated, water flowing over the floors inches deep. At one stage it was rumoured that the suddenness of the flood had been caused by the bursting of the borough water reservoir, but that was- not the case. What happened, according to the Mayor, was that a sudden cloudburst deluged the country shedding water into the Tutaenui stream and this, added to the already high level of the stream, yras too much for it to carry. An overflow a mile wide and feet deep swept down over Marton. An elderly man was marooned for about an hour and a half on top of his bach on Calico line. He was rescued when two men rowed a dinghy across the flood.

Royal New Zealand Air / Force trucks from Ohakea evacuated ’ pupils from flooded schools to the parish hall, where they were supplied with hot cocoa by the St. John Ambulance. Between 9 o’clock on Sunday morning and midday to-day 4.16 inches of rain fell in the Tutaenui district, making a total of 10 inches for the- month, most of it in the last five days.

SHOPS FLOODED AT TURAKINA HIGHWAYS BLOCKED (P.A.) WANGANUI, February 13. The stream which flows through Turakina, 14 miles south of Wanganui, rose rapidly to-day and overflowed near the Ben Nevis Hotel. Water entered a general store, a bakery, and a service station. Two houses were surrounded by water which went down in about two hours.

The Wanganui river has not overflowed, but Nixon’s creek, a small stream which joins the river below Wanganui East, banked up with the' tide and the gardens of some houses in Wanganui East, were flooded. Flooding in the Makirikiri, Matarawa, and Okoia valleys is the heaviest for 30 years. In one paddock at Okoia fences were just showing above the water.

Flooding caused a slip at Black bridge, about 10 miles from Wanganui on the Parapara road. The road is likely to be closed for two days. A hue- operated by Mr T. Boyack to Parihauliau, an area off the Parapara, was engulfed in a washout at 10 a.m. It had to be abandoned, but to-morrow further efforts will be made to remove it. Another vehicle was caught in the silt in the same locality and is still there.

Three slips between Atene and Parikino have blocked the Wanganui river road to Pipirilti.