“Sheer Speculation”

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 47, 18 May 1948, Page 4

“Sheer Speculation”

Possibility Of Flood From Lake’Rotomahana

In spite of a recent alarming report about the possibility of a disastrous flood coming this way, through the overflowing of Lake Rotomahana, qualified observers on the spot do not think that at all likely. The Rotorua Post says the whole thing can be discounted as sheer speculation.

In fact, not only has the seasonal rise of Lake Rotomahana reached" its peak but it has dropped sharply by over two feet during the last six months and is still actually dropping. Observers state that the lake is taking its normal course and that the subterranean outlet which flows into Lake Tarawera from Lake Rotomahana shows an increased volume of water, which is apparently taking care of the surplus water occasioned by the rise. In any case, assuming that the lake rose to a sufficient extent to overflow its substantial land bar- . rier, the result would be a trickling stream downhill into Tarawera, taking the surplus water. ‘ No sudden, overflow could occur in the absence of water pressure occasioned by any flowing river, which Rotomahana does not possess. The bluff between Tarawera and Rotomahana. which maintains its level through seepage' into the former body, is still a formidable barrier but even if, by some unusual circumstances, this were surmounted by the waters of Rotomahana rising approximately another-18 to 20 feet, the flow into a lake more than five times its area, but 130 feet below its level, could not be catastrophic, as the intake would be spread over more than 17 square miles before the outflow from the Tarawera River would become appreciable.