Fortnight Before Roads Cleared

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31109, 12 July 1966, Page 3

Fortnight Before Roads Cleared

The end of isolation is in sight for nearly 300 Waitotara residents, the Press Association reports.

The Waitotara Valley road, which was blocked by slips, will not be fully cleared for a fortnight but one-way vehicle access will probably be possible tomorrow night.

On the other hand, at least four Tangahoe families are likely to be without access for about two weeks.

A huge subsidence halfway along the valley scoured the, highway for more than two chains. Thousands of tons of earth, trees and telephone lines were brought down on the Waitotara valley road during the storm.

There had been 40 slips within 10 miles, each about 200 yards to 600 yards of mud and rock, said Mr J. A. Edwards, the Patea countyengineer.

Telephone lines were repaired yesterday.

Six men were flown by helicopter to the council’s earth-moving machines which had been trapped between slips on the roads. Supplies were ready to be flown to the settlement, Mr Edwards said. The Post Office sent its mail van as far along the road as possible. From there the mail was believed to have been delivered in bucket-brigade style. Five farming families in the Tangahoe Valley have not been heard from since last Friday after telephone lines and trees toppled during torrential rain. The Hawera County Council engineer (Mr F. Muggeridge) said men had walked out of the area to get supplies yesterday. It would be about 10 days before the valley road was cleared, he said.

Buoy Found On Rocks

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 11. Barrett’s Reef buoy, widely known as “Moaning Minnie,” torn from its harbour entrance moorings by Saturday’s southerly storm, was found early today half submerged on rocks near Dorset Point. The Wellington Harbour Board has not yet decided on the method of salvage of the buoy, which is valued at several thousand pounds.