HUTT RIVER RISES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 135, 5 December 1938, Page 10

HUTT RIVER RISES

PROTECTIVE WORK

HOLDS

FERRY SERVICES UPSET

Although the full strength of the gale was experienced in the Hutt Valley, surprisingly little damage was done. The. sea broke over the Esplanade at Petone and much water was deposited on the street and footpath. In various streets in Petone and Lower Hutt there was a considerable amount of surface water, but this morning practically all of it drained away. Some motorists who had left their cars out overnight could not get them started again. A shop window in Laings Road, Lower Hutt, was broken, and numbers of fences were brought down. A hand was blown off the south face of the Petone town clock. The Hutt River rose seven feet above normal, but no damage was done to the bank near Belmont, where washouts occurred two months ago and brought the edge of the bank perilously close to the railway line. Protective work carried out at this point since then is proving effective. At Eastbourne the gale blew strongly but without any really serious effects. The protective works on the waterfront were not damaged, and there have been no reports about erosion. In the past the most serious damage has been caused when a strong southerly gale has been accompanied by a spring tide. Motorists, and passengers in the buses, felt the strength of the wind when crossing the Hutt Pipe Bridge, which is one of the windiest points in Wellington. The Eastbourne Borough Council managed to dispatch the two early morning ferries to town, but the boats could not be berthed at Rona Bay, so it was necessary for the Eastbourne passengers to travel to Day's Bay. The usual trips during the day were discontinued, but it was expected that the service would be resumed in time to convey passengers home from their work in the city. Loading on the buses was very heavy. DAMAGE SLIGHT. The material damage done by the • gale was remarkably slight, though in exposed suburbs fences suffered a good deal, and residents in some spots spent I an anxious night as houses rocked. Though the chart at the aerodrome at Bongotai showed a wind force of 89 miles per hour at 6.30 a.m. today, the wind did no damage to buildings or equipment.1 A disorganisation of services is reported by the general manager of the Hutt Valley Power Board (Mr. E. F. Hollands). This was caused by lines blown down or trees blown across ] lines, but the men were out early this

morning, and all services should toe normal by tonight. Slight interference with telegraph and telephone lines is reported by $he Post and Telegraph Department, chiefly through wires crossing, but the Department had nothing of importance to report. Seven minor accidents were reported to the Automobile Association, WelEngton, yesterday, but apparently the last night and this morning has , not been the direct cause of any motor accidents. Minor slips occurred owing to the downpour, but there was no seirious flooding in the city. Yesterday afternoon the rain was very heavy. Early in the afternoon there was considerable surface water on Thorndon Quay, and later in the. neighbourhood of the Thorndon Ramp, where a waterfall contributed to a stretch of partially submerged road through which the Sunday traffic splashed. There were minor troubles <at Kilbirnie owing to the stormwater* drains not being big enough to carry ihe volume of water, but there were no> serious floodings in the city. The Exhibition buildings, de.spite the fact that the gale was at its heaviest at Rongotai, suffered no darftage at all where structures were completed, or sufficiently stayed, but there was minor damage in places. Th<» big central tower was not an inch out of plumb, but some partly-erected timber at the band shell on the northern side of the promenade, where the full force of the wind was experienced, was blown down. It consisted of several pylons in course of erection, and some of the curved framework for the band shell itself which was in an erect position was blown flat. Two or three timbers only were broken, so that the loss is merely a little wording time. The unstayed iron fence along the Lyall Bay Parade was bLown slightly out of plumb. Otherwise save for a few broken sheets of poilite which were not in position, the ciamage is nil. The lateral strength of the* big structures, when they are finished, will stand anything in the way of wind. The lull in the lee of the windward buildings showed that on ordinary occasions, whatever way the wind is blowing, there will be shelter in tfee vicinity of the band shells, on one side or the other. AIR SERVICES. ' , Though the wind at Rongotai this morning ranged from 2f) to 65 miles an hour, all Union Airways machines arrived and departed tvx scheduled times, but Cook Strait planes were unable to leave. It was expected that the machines would gej; away this afternoon. Very little mail from north of Wellington wa's delayed, as most of it was taken to Blenheim and Christchurch by the Ijfoion Airways' D.H. 86 machine, whidh left Palmerston North for Blenheim at 10.10 a.m.