How Others Fared

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

How Others Fared

A deluge also enveloped Tauranga, where 6in of rain fell in three hours late on Saturday night. With the drains overtaxed, water spread across the streets and there was flooding in the Strand in the vicinity of Coronation Pier. Water entered the kitchen and public rooms on the ground floor of the Commercial Hotel and a few shops in the same locality were similarly affected. Tauranga aerodrome was still partly under water on Monday morning and aircraft could use only one runway.

Opotiki experienced one of the most intense electrical storms in memory. A. total of 7.28 in of rain fell in the 24 hours up to 9.30 a.m. Sunday, most of it being recorded over a period of about three hours. One tremendous downpour lasting for 15 minutes was accompanied by jagged pieces of ice which threatened to break windows. The street drainage system could not cope with the storm water which covered the footpaths and in some places extended over the full width of roadways.

There were many interruptions to electricity and telephone services in both the Opotiki and Rangitaiki districts. At least 50 transformer fuses were blown as a result of lightning, and troublemen began work at 5 a.m. on a task that increased rather than diminshed as the telphone service was restored and further reports were received from country districts. Recorded rainfall on the Rangitaiki Plains for Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday was 6.17 inches.