HEAVY RAIN CAUSES HUTT VALLEY FLOODS

Chronicle (Levin), 10 May 1946, Page 5

HEAVY RAIN CAUSES HUTT VALLEY FLOODS

-Press Association •

MANY HAVE TO WADE TO WORK

Bv Telegraph -

WELLINGTON, May y. ' Writh nearly three inches of rain. ; faliing in tlie 24 hours ended 9.30 a.m. to dav, there was considerable flooding in the housing areas in Hutt Yalley. Houses in Heretaunga Square to the , east of the raiiway line near Trenthain j cairip, were isolated. Several houses in Riverside Prive, Woburn, were evacuat-. ed when- waters from the overftowing J Waiwhetu St.rekin- rose to tlie. groniid'[; floor level. To ' get to the raiiway ; station resideuts in t)ie Heretaunga | iSquare district had to wade through s water above ltnee level. It came from ! a stream which runs along tlie foot of j the hills behind Trentham Camp and ; continues on the east of the raiiway j line as far as (Silverstream. . The oecupants of some houses in the Military Reserve area who went to bed ! early knew nothing of tlie encroach- : ment of the waters till they rose to go to work and found themselves. isolated. i Water burst tlie banks of the stream ; soon after .11 o'clock on Wednesday j night. Mr. A. D. Layton, No. 15 Military Reserve, was one of those immediately aware of the ilood. He re- j tumed to his home about tliat hour and j immediately went to release a dog . which was shut in a slied, to find.-it j with water up to its neck, This mom.ing there were 18 inches of water right j round his house and it was possible to row a boat round it.

Lorries could pass down the road an Military Reserye but it was unpleasant- 1 ly de'ep for wading. A rowboat was in considerable deniand, The coutinuation of the same road to the south was under water all the way and'residents liad to wade to leave liome. ... Lower in the valley in the Woburn- and Moera areas, t tliere was a lot of. water 011 the roads. | The Waiwhetu Stream whicli flrivs j tl iough Woburn ; brolce its banks. • Officers of the Lower Hutt City Council say it reached a level neker previously] recorded. Eof several hundred yafds tjie road, with both its footpaths, was deeply inundated. Several houses were evacuated. Waters from the same" stream spread through into tlie Bandwick Road area, Moera. Randwiek Road was flooded from fence to fence for about 200 yards. Less serious flooding pecurred in many other streets in tlie Hutt s Valley. j The rainfall in tlie 24 hours to 9°.30 a.ra, to-day was 293 points and by 4 p.m.- a further 25 points had been recorded "at Kelburn. A strong southerly wind was accompanied by rain during the night, with many gusts over 40 miles an" kour.