Worst Flood in Thirty Years?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 39, 20 April 1948, Page 5

Worst Flood in Thirty Years?

Saturday night was ushered in with dense cloud and a dismal drizzle which, by about 11 p.m., had developed into a steady downpour. Thereafter, the most intense electrical storm that many residents can remember moved in from the north west, heralded by vivid flashes of sheet lightning. The storm seemed to reach its height about 2 a.m., and raged incessantly until well after 5, accompanied by forked lightning, torrential rain and the continuous roll of thunder.

As could be seen from silt deposits yesterday, the main source of flooding was the Wairere stream, which gouged its bed wide and deep, carrying driftwood, rubble and silt against and over the hopelessly inadequate culverts beside the County Council Chambers and on Quay street near the Rowing Club’s shed. Unable to escape by its normal route, the water swung into the Strand and poured out over the old wharf, meeting the overflow from . the Waiewe on the Whakatane Hotel corner. Actually, it seems that section of the Strand from D. C. Morpeth and Sons’ to the Commercial Hotel, stemmed the main fury of the flood. " Chief sufferers from the Waiewe, which carried stormwater, rubble . and stone from Hillcrest, were Hamill Bros, the back of whose garage turned the main force of the torrent, though back windows of the office were stove in and water, silt and a certain amount of rubble rushed through the buildings. Failure of the normal watercourses to cope with the flood load caused some serious washouts in the Hillcrest. area, but the cuttings up Hillcrest road stood fairly firm with only minor slips. The road was closed yesterday for repairs.

House Evacuated Though a portion of the foundation was undermined, the County Council Chambers stood firm, but had to be packed up for safety’s sake on Sunday morning. A small shed at the back fared badly. A section of the floor falling out to be swept away by the flood which had eaten underneath it. One end of the Quay street culvert was washed out, leaving only the tar-seal crust. Further upstream, immediately below the waterfall, Mr J. Grant and his .family had to evacuate their house which had part of its foundations undermined and in the morning was seen to have its piles overhanging the new bed of the stream by about two feet. On the opposite bank, Mr It. T. Savage lost a sawbench, complete with a circular saw, and a ■substantial stack of wood. The engine he had used for woodcutting was salvaged on Sunday morning over 50 yards downstream.

So far as Borough roads and services are concerned, damage is tentatively estimated at between £7OO and £BOO. Principal reaction amongst townspeople is not so much lamentation over actual losses as firm determination that something definite should be done to prevent a recurrence.

up to the bonnet of a car. However, despite ruined gardens and miry sections, little substantial damage is reported. Considerable water lay about yesterday. .

Chief Reaction Is Resolve To Have Recurrences Prevented

Battle To Save Stocks: Shopkeepers Turn Out

It wag a little after 2 a.m. that the business eomsmmity started to turn out in force; One shopkeeper, unable to sleep, went down town some time before that and decided he had better warn the rest, which was done by telephone with the cooperation of the exchange staff. Soon there was a team in almost every shop, making stocks as safe as circumstances would permit. Sunday dawned on a dismal scene, and most businesses had teams employed clearing up the worst of the mess in preparation for the proper clean-up which took place in most premises yesterday. Most shops had substantial silt deposits on the floors-. Banks, commercial and Government groundfloor offices were similar rf affected. Both hotel cellars were flooded, though th ( e Commercial escaped flood waters above floor level. The Whakatane hotel had fee ground floor av/ash at one stage and presented a serious cleaning problem in the morning. Shops in that building also suffered damage to floor coverings. Out in the suburbs, the Maraetotara stream flooded a large part of the Allendale area, but split the worst of its overflow into Alexandria Avenue and lower Douglas where at one time water was

Whakatane’s business area suffered its third flood in four years in the early hours of Sunday morning, a flood which, in the opinion of some residents, is the worst the town has suffered for 30 years. Considering the volume of water that descended on the town, damage was not so extensive as might have been expected. Though water entered a majority of the business premises, stock losses were fairly light in most cases so far as could be ascertained yesterday. Between 11 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday, 7.6 inches of rain was recorded.

Ohope Settlement Cut Off From Town By Washouts

With impassable slips on the Wainui road and a washout at the bridge at the foot of the Ohope Hill, the beach settlement was completely cut off from Whakatane the greater part on Sunday, but late in the afternoon a County gang had the hill road re-opened with a temporary bridge. It is anticipated that it will be a day or two before the other route is completely restored.

There were only minor slips and washouts on the Ohope Hill and the Maraetotara Gorge road and both were passable. With all the watercourses washed out, the beach settlement itself was cut up into sections, but the road was usable the length of the settlement by Sunday night, though the crossing &t the Captain’s Cabin was still a bit precarious yesterday. ' Flattened By Slip In actual structural damage to buildings, Ohope took probably the biggest rap, with one house, owned by Mr J. Black and fortunately unoccupied, completely flattened, a motor garage at one of Mr A. J. Canning’s houses swept away by a slip and damage to the back part of the house. Mr B. Benson and family, tenants of another house owned by Mr Canning, considered themselv'es endangered by a slip and evacuated the premises at 4 a.m., waiting for daylight in their car. All those places are at the western end of the beach, where most of the serious slipping occurred.

Outhouse Goes Sailing At the other end, though,' there was considerable flooding, there was little structural damage, except to a small outbuilding, which was swept into the surf near the Caledonian sports ground, which debouched flood waters from the valleys above over the road, washing out a small bridge, and across sections on the seaward side. A torrent of flood water 1 that tore down the steep slope behind Mr J. Bigwood’s home carried away his garden and deposited uprooted toi toi where it had been. Mr J. Critchley’s butcher shop and the Captain’s Cabin Cabaret had a narrow escape when the flood gouged a channel which almost undermined their foundations jmd carried away the footbridge which used to be beside Mr Critchley’s door.

Stood Up To Hard Test Town’s Essential Services

The essential services of Whakatane did not suffer much in the cloudburst on Sunday morning, the hardest hit being the Borough water supply. The main tunnel that supplies the well from which the water is pumped was blocked by debris and on two occasions the town was without water. The blockage was cleared at about 9.30 a.m. yesterday, and the supply in the reservoir will now have to be used sparingly so that the storage can be built up again. Two power stoppages occurred in the country and one in the town. Eastern and Western Drain roads were without power for a short while due to transformer fuses lifting. The same thing occurred in McGarvey Road. There were only a few house fuses blown in the town by the lightning. Power Pole In Danger A very near stoppage was averted by the Borough linesmen on Sunday morning when the main pole for the town area the one in the Toroa street line was undermined by the Wairere stream and left hanging by. the power, lines. 'After a few hours .of fast work in ffhe creek bed itself two steel anchor lines were attached to the pole and fixed in the ground near Innes’ factory. The telephone service was not interrupted during the whole period of the storm.

Members of the Fire Brigade started on Sunday and carried on the greater part of yesterday helping to clean up the mess, pumping away surplus water, and using hoses to shift stubborn silt deposits. Five trucks, each with a team of Borough workmen spent yesterday shifting silt from the streets and clearing blocked watercourses. Even so, still much remains to be done. The slip at the side and front of Hamill Bros Garage had, to be tackled with a grader before a course could be formed to divert the water that split over it from the Strand.