Two Close Calls In Deluge At Pohangina

Chronicle (Levin), 10 January 1949, Page 4

Two Close Calls In Deluge At Pohangina

The chief engineer to the Manawatu Cat'chiheht Sbhid, Mh TaCk Tvans, and 4n efficer of the Grasslands -Division of the Tepartmeht 6f SbiSHtifiS 'hnd Industrial Research, Mr, F. E. T. Suckling, aad an unenviahle experience and a narrow escape^ from death on Friday wiien 'they werfe nearly overtakeh by a dfeluge of water while inspecting flood damagfe ffl a gully oh the sfeil bon&ervatibii fexpefiihehtal area at Te Awa, Pohangina. The twb offieers were making an examinatiom of the d'ath'age eatisfed to the No. 6 debris dam in No. 1 gnlly by 'a torffeftti'al 'doWit^'oUt over the Pbr hangina watershed last Monday. They wbre jtfst abowe the remaihs of 'the 'd'ath in a steep part of the gully when ahotheV tor'rential dowrtpbur began. A few mi'nuteS Jater thfe tV6 men heard a loud roar beliind them and turned to see a solid wall of debris-laden water rushing down upon them. They were barely able to seramble out of the path of the deluge. Whjeh they returned to their cars on the roadway they fonnd the road waslred out and they were oompelled to le'ave their e'ars behind. The. vehieies .were still there last niglit. Another very close call was experienced by the ch'aifman bf the Pohangina County Council, Mr. N. H. Moar, the county oversee'r, Mr. H. E. Pitt, and A gah'g of hlhe meh engaged on the work of restoriug the Beehive Creek bridge which was badly damaged in Mopday's storm. They were preparmg to instal hew piles When 'the creek suddenly rose at thfe.h'eight 0f the freak storm at 3 pfm. on Friday, in which it was estimated that thfee inches of rain fell in two hours. The level of the creek rose at an alarmihg rate and the men had just scrambled to places of safety when another solid wall of water came sweeping down the bed. While the m'eh wat'chfed, the bfi'dge and. ail the nfew feguipiheixt for the restoration.work, ineluding IfetA . ja'cks, bne a 22-'toh hydraulic jack valued at £40, were " rsWejit away, the hfidge stfu'cture 'fbllihg over tWb of three tihies as it went. Messrs. Moar and Pitt were stranded on one side Of thfe fefeek ahd ' it was 6 p.m-. before they were able to f ord the creek with the assistance of a hoi'se and return to their homes. Engiheers of the Works Depattment from Wanganui and offieers of the voiiiity Cbimeii made h fdll .suf ve.y of the damag^e yesterday and it is estimated fha£'£700'0 will iihv'e" to be e'xpehded fepairihg "the damage to foads ait'd 'hri'dge's.* ■'* ' '• . ; ; Th'e' storfn whs 'fftpeated on.-. Saturday, IreSidents deseribing it as the most .per•sistenl and terri'fying in their fexperi-enr-e. One man said there were lightning fiashes every qnarter of a minute for the duration of the storm while the • thunder iev.eTberated e.ontinubusly. Iluge trees were torn out by their roots ,a n d hundreds of thousands of yards :of silt/'h'ave been spewed oUt ac,rosa the farmlands on the flats. • Several inches of water streamed through the streets of Ppliangina township and lapped at 'the doors of many of the houses, but only- one -residenee, that of Ihe Misses Edith and Maud Klink, which was inundated last Alonday, was flooded. The main sti'eet - through the township was littered with trees and other debris, and bhildozers were employed to make a passage for trafiic. Hundreds of sightseers visited Pohangina to see the ra'v'ages of the three visitations yesterday. A county o'fficial said it was hoped tb have a ford prbpared' over Beehive Creek by Tuesday. Stock losses, it is reported, were not high, although individual cases wefe reported of farmers losing ealves and sheep. House Endangered

A large eoncrete culverr measuring 7ft. 6ih. x 6ft. on the Te Awa Road was washed oht and plunged about 80 feet down into the gorge below. Whefe the culvert previously- was located there is' how a gapiftg "caverh about 100 feet deep by 50 feet wide and the land in that area is erumbling all the time. Only 75 feet away is the residenee of .Mr. Williamson which is eonsidered to be in some danger. Coulter's Line and Finnis' Line were badly d'amaged. At Te Awa the Oroiia River by-passed the small wooden bridge on the fiat which was badly silted up. The ooil conservation experiment'al area at Te Awa for the control of gully erosion has been ex'tensively damaged and it is thougfrt prob'able that a coihpletely fresh start will have to be made. ( j The area was instituted as a researeh stati'on nearly thrft'e y'eafs ago ahd under the guidance of the Director of the Grasslands Divisipn,- Air. E. Bruce •LeVy, ,a consid'erhble amount of work has been barried out there. The re-

seareh included . topdressing tests, 6xperimental grass plahtings, tfee plaiitings, partieularly spabe pl'ahtings ahd the construetion of debris dains. The area is serrated with terriflc gullifes, No. 1 glilly reaching thfe proportions Of a gbrge. Thfe big dhfh >in No. 1 gully withstood the first onslaught remafkably well, l)ut the second visitation cailsed a breaeh in oho side. It was eonsidered that tkis could have befen restored and stabilised when the third flood came. .Air. Levy said last night it would iiot be .possible to estimate the total damage to the researeh station . until amiore complete survey had been made. The destruction wrought would probhbly hecessitale a nfew approach to the gully erosion eohtvbl biit he was not. too sure yet what that new hpproach would lib. St might b© neeessary to copsider- the construetion .bf more permanent conerette dams,