HEAVY RAIN FALLS IN WELLINGTON

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 192, 10 May 1940, Page 10

HEAVY RAIN FALLS IN WELLINGTON

Surface Flooding But No Damage BRIEF THUNDERSTORM Heavy rain fell in Wellington almost all day yesterday, causing surface flooding in parts of the city and suburbs. Rain was still falling late last night. ' . Early in the morning a southerly bl-eeze brought up a wall of leaden clouds, which soon dissolved into driving rain. i Soon after 11 a.m., when the day was at its blackest and every shop was. artifically lighted, there was a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning. This lasted nearly an hour, causing a good deal of surface flooding, though no major damage was reported to the city corporation’s officers. As usual in very heavy rain, the lower part of Majoribanks Street became a swirling flood, with little of footpath or road visible. Water had to be kept out of shop entrances by barrages of sacks, as there was too much water for the capacity of the. drains. At this point there is drainage from the whole of the hillside area and, when the amount of water is too great, the manhole-tops are forced up and, instead of the drains taking the surface water, they contribute to it. Fortunately the big downpour occurred between tides, otherwise the floods might have proved more difficult to deal with. The rain slackened toward midday and the surface water soon disappeared. In Wakefield Street the water reached a point half-way across the foot-paths a little to the east of “The Dominion” building. The gutters ran kerb-high in Willis Street for threequarters of an hour. Only surface flooding was reported in the suburbs. Corporation men were taken off their normal jobs and, as storm troops, were sent to points vulnerable to flooding. These men, by keeping the side-channels clear and raking the debris away, from the sumps, did valuable work during the storm.

The Meteorological Office reported • that the rainfall between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. (five hours) was 97 points, only three points off an inch, solid' rain for this time of the year. After 2 p.m. the rain from the south continued to fall steadily, lint not nearly so heavily a.s in the morning. .