Flood causes havoc in shopping mall

Press, 16 April 1979, Page 6

Flood causes havoc in shopping mall

PA Auckland, The Mairangi Bay shop-j ping mall was described as a disaster area as scores of) shopkeepers and volunteers; spent yesterday mopping up! in the wake of flooding which caused damage estimated to cost thousands of dollars. At the height of the flood-! ing in the early hours of the morning, plate-glass win-j dows were smashed, a re-; frigerator was lifted from, the floor, and display stands' were sent crashing. In the worst-hit store I water rose to cash-register; height on the checkout! counters, a freezer cabinet) was overturned, a refrig-1 erator was carried across) the shop, and two plate-; glass windows were shattered. Stock was swept off) shelves by the water, and silt-covered shop fittings lit-I tered the floor. A fully laden refrigerator) was overturned in an adjoin-f ing shop and the plant suffered extensive water dam-! age. Stock ruined by the; flooding filled a three-tonne) truck. The Mairangi Bay branch) of the Totalisator Agency Board will be closed and is!

I not expected to reopen until; ) the end of the week. The IT.A.B.’s Auckland district manager (Mr D. G. Hazjlewood) said that water had seriously damaged the computer equipment. Mr N. Hollis, whose wife) ; runs the Wool Bar, said that) hundreds of skeins of wool ; had to be dumped. A shop proprietor, Mr D. ; ■Crowley, said that he hadHost about three-quarters of) i his stock. The shop appeared I Ito have borne the full brunt! [of the flooding, with water) ■ reaching a height of more; I than Im. I Mr Crowley and 20 other ) shopkeepers were alerted i about 8.30 a.tn., more than ' : five hours after water had (swept through the mall. ) Mairangi Bay residents ■spent most of the day helpling with the mopping up. i The cause of the flood, which struck about 2 a.m., I was not known last evening. Several shopkeepers | blamed the East Coast Bays [ City Council’s stormwaterj drainage system. They said ■ that an underground culvert I had apparently become .blocked with debris and; ( water had “geysered” I I through the stormwater | ’manholes. But the Mayor (Mr A. K. ’

I McCulloch), who spent most) of the day inspecting the! damage, said he did not think improvements being; made to the stormwater system in the area were respon-1 sible. “This was a 50-year flood) icaused in the main by a tor-1 rential downpour which) 'lasted for more than an! Ihour,” he said. , “Hopefully there will not! Ibe another flood like it for) I another 50 years.” I Ten factories in nearby; ! Browns Bay were also) (affected. A furniture factory ) suffered the biggest loss when a large stock of upholstered furniture was damaged. Roads in the Albany basin, where about 130 mm of rain were recorded between 11.30 p.m. on Saturday and 2.30 a.m. yesterday, took their worst pounding for many years. The Takapuna City over-) seer (Mr .1. M. Prouse) said that the Oteha Valley Road’ linking Albany and Browns; Bay had been blocked by al slip, with several minor slips elsewhere. Flood waters swept through a timber yard in Albany with such force that fences were smashed and timber deposited on farmland more than 500 m away. I