CHANNEL IMPROVED

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 148, 8 June 1935, Page 6

CHANNEL IMPROVED

The Tutaekuri Benefits LITTLE STRESS ON WORKS It is anticipated by Mr Guy Rochfort, engineer to the Hawke's Bay Bivers Board, that the added volume of water which flowed down the new channel of the Tutaekuri as th« result of the torrential rains on Thursday has greatly improved tho channel. The engineer said yesterday afternoon that the degree of improvement could not be assessed till the river had subsided another three or four feet. Mr Rochfort said that the levels on both rivers were on the down-grade, and tho condition generally seemed to lie approaching the safety mark. Generally speaking, the flood was a comparatively small one, for the rate of How in the Tutaekuri was not more than 26,000 cusecs and that of the Ngaruroro approximately 50,000 cusecs. There was nothing to show that the Moteo area suffered from the deluge, and with the Tutaekuri’s 26,000 cusecs rate it was hardly likely to be affected, said the engineer. The maximum rise at Redclyffe was between eight and nine feet, and between nine and ten feet at Fernhill

“So far as the actual works are concerned, they were nowhero near taxed. The water in the channel as far as the new work is completed was a mere nothing,” continued Mr Rochfort. “There was water up to the bottom of the banks at Brookfields, and one or two places where there was a swell we lost a lew yards, but nothing much. A fair-sized hole was washed out of the northern levee, beyond where we had been working, and w'ashed over there, but it only means we have a few extra yards to put in there. “On the whole we got off very lightly, and there is a considerable improvement in the actual Tutaekuri river channel. The widening of this channel and the making of stop-banks has resulted in the water being confined to that channel to some extent, but what exactly is the degree of improvement will not be known till the water has dropped to a depth of three or four feet.

“Probably by Monday or Tuesday the water will have dropped to that extent, and we shall then be able to get a clear view of the improvement. Apparently the water is not backing up at Raupare."