IN WINTER'S GRIP

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 121, 25 May 1942, Page 6

IN WINTER'S GRIP

STORM IN THE SOUTH

FLOODING IN CHRISTCHURCH

(P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Winter hit. Christchurch with a vengeance over the week-end. A south-west storm, complete with driving rain and bitterly cold conditions, arrived yesterday morning early, and in approximately 30 hours up to 0 a.m. this morning, 41 inches of rain fell. The storm reached a new peak during last night, and continued practically unabated this morning. In the city flooding in manv areas was common, and it was particularly severe at. Woolston, in the Radley Bridge area, where the Heathcote River, banked up by the rising tide, came well over the roads and foot-! paths. Communication* AiTrctod Sweeping up the East Coast, the gale caused serious trouble to telephone circuits and, to a lesser degree, to telegraph traffic. There a»-e no telephone circuits north of Cheviot and Waiau owing to serious breaks in the lines in those areas. As much traffic as possible is going via the West Coast, but West Coast circuits themselves are very shaky and there appears t/1 be some faults not far away. A breakdown in /he railway communication system has been caused b.v the storm, but so far there arc no reports of damage to tracks. Rail traffic is continuing with very little inconvenience by the use of manual signalling. Rain swelled the Avon River, which in places on lower levels was almost up to the roadway. Records at the Air Force weather station show that the south-wester averaged between 30 and 35 miles an hour for 24 hours, with frequent gushes of over 50 miles an hour. The greatest recorded velocity was at 9.30 this morning when instruments read 58 miles an hour. High Rainfall Rending Christchurch magnetic observatory figures for the 24 hours ended at 9 a.m. to-day showed a rainfall tally of 3.981n, the second highest reading for the 24-hour period since records were instituted.

Preparations for wheat sowing In some country districts will be adversely affected by the rain, and it is feared that in certain areas wheat already in the ground will be "drowned out." Snow has fallen in many places in the ranges and foothills, and in some places on the plains sleet was experienced.