A FLOOD

Hokitika Guardian, 30 January 1932, Page 5

A FLOOD

MANY STREETS INUNDATED. WASHOUTS AND OVERFLOWS. The continuous ram that fell all yesterday morning, did not stop till late in the afternoon. As a result of the very heavy downpour, the drains were unable to cope with the inrush of water and the surplus water dammed back and then commenced to ' overflow down the streets themselves. The worst’ place in the town was in Park Street where itlie flood waters, unable to gelt away through their j proper channels soon backed up and broke over Park Street in the vicinity of Bealey Street and soon a regular river was over-running the place. A regular stream ran down Bealey Street while the flood waters inundated the residences adjoining and they were all flooded. The water followed the line of an olcl watercourse and streamed under and through the houses on both sides which were all flooded to a more or less extern. The flood waters made their wav iti a regular torrent . and after traversing a block came through the premises of Mr T. Moynihan and j emptied into Hampden Street. The fall here to Fitzherbert and Sewell Streets formed a regular torrent which tore down at a great rate for hours, a large volume of water finding its way by the street to the lower levem. The street and the residences in Fifzherbort Street below the Brewery was ■soon flooded and several of the houses j had the water over their floors. At the corner of Hampden and Sewell Streets there was a regular lake that, covered the paddocks and road and incidentally covered the floor of Mr Kirwan’s garage to a depth of several inches. The flood waters extended to the Convent corner. Lower down the town at the corner of Weld and Tanered Streets the water hacked’ up early in the day. About 4 p.m. it started to recede, and then again rose rapidly and within a half hour the whole street was- a sheet of water 18 inches deep, extending from the rear of the Masonic Hotel in Tanered Street to Perry’s store and up to Turners fruit shop. The waters continued to rise a little till about 7 o’clock when they were high enough to flow into 'Sewell Street at Baty’s corner, and this prevented any further rig© at McKay’s corner, where the water rose to within a couple of inches of the shop floor. The vicinity of the Pest Office cud not have any flooded water till after 7 o’clock, and then it covered the road in places. Fitzherbert Street in the vicinity of All Saints’ Church was all flooded, the wafer reaching to the church doors while the approaches to All Saints’ Hall were all under water necessitating the-jeityoval the Jocnle of the Tennis Dance to the Soldiers’ Hair. All Saints’ Tennis court Was- tVell covered with the flood waters.

Tilt! ruiflfttll wot! vwy heavy in the hills to the north eaist of the town i tmd there was an unusually heavy flow of storm water there from, which caused much of the damage. Serious damage was done at the ! Mental Hospital to the drainage work : put in hand in connection with the j new villa being erected. This had necessitated a tunnel through the hill to lead to the sea.? and this was | just about finished. The rain yesterday caused a blockage and the tunnel gave way near the brow of the hill and carried away portion of the hillside, bringing down a- great amount of spoil and washing out a huge hole. The spoil almost covered the double gate approach at the roadside leading from the private entrance to the Mental Hospital and also partly covering the road. The subsidence was so extensive as to endanger one of the homes and the patients were removed therefrom.

Though there wa® such an extensive overflow of flood waiters • in the town, the river was not in high flood at any time, and when the .streets inundation was at its height, the river was not much higher than normal though there was a fast run in the stream.

It is a long time since there has been such a continuous rainfall, and on enquiry we learn that for the 24 hours ended at 9 o’clock this morning (the rainfall amounted to 5.47 inches. From all over the town come reports of the flood waters having entered the residences, the places in the vicinity of Upper Bealev Streets and in lower Fitzherbert Street above Stafford Streot, having suffered the most. In Upper Bealev Street the flood waters were tearing down under the bouses and through the hack yards till they reached Hampden Street, and many belongings were washed away or damaged, gardens suffering severely. The inability of the drains to cope with the extraordinary downpour ««,s undoubtedly tire cause of the unfortunate visitation. All yesterday afternoon and evening large numbers of persons were in the streets looking at the unusual .spectacle of the flooded street®. In the vicinity of McKay’s corner the waters were higher than had been the ease for the past 26 years. Tb° flood waters continued on the streets all night. There was a lame flood in the river towards midnight but it then began to fall and the wafer in the streets dropped a little hut it uii,;; not till about 5 o’clock this morni'o; that the waiter went away rnpidlv and by 8 o’clock nearly all of it had disappeared.

THE RAINFALL. The excessive nature of the rainfall can be gathered from the record for the two days. It will be remembered that the rain on Thursday's count, only began iq the early morning of Friday and is counted up to 9 a.in. The details are : For 24 hours to Friday at 9 a.m. .82 inches. For 24 Hours .to Saturday at 9 a.m. 5.47 inches. IN THE COUNTRY. The extremely heavy downpour yesterday caused a large dumber of scours on jroads in several districts. Lake Kanleri and the Kokatahi Roads were damaged in several places while the Station Road was also badly scoureaThere was a heavy slip on the Blue Spur Road. So far no damage to river protection works has been reported; and men have been sent out by the County Council to attend to the scoured roads... There was a heavy washout on tne Humphrey’s road past Olsens, over a chain of the road being washed away. IN THE NORTH.

Heavy rain in the Grey district oaused much damage. At 5 p.m. yesterday a slip occurred at the Seventeen Mile bluff near Barry town, and traffic was blocked for the . night. The blockage will bo cleared away add the road will ngnin be open this morning. A small slip had occurred on the road between K’amakn and Bead matt'*. .... A small bridge over tutor’s Creek,, between Bell Hill and.'Nelson Creeks was washed away. There was a great deal of water on the road near Ngahere, . where the water was as times five feet deep. A slip a chain long and twelve feet in depth, between Karnatn and Red Jack’.s caused considerable delay to the afternoon train to Reefton, while a bridge at the southern end of the Ngahere railway station was damaged • a good deal, and the evening train from Reefton was delayed one and a-half hours', while the damage was sufficiently repaired ito allow of the bridge being n4pd. , A slio between Brunner and Stillwater on the railway track also delayed the Reefton-Grey-mouth train. t A wash-out on the railway line in , the cutting between Camp and Runanga held up the early afternoon train to Ruimnga for on© and a-half hours. The line was repaired, by five o’clock and the train proceeded on 'its way; but, soon afterwards, another bad washout occurred just past the scene of the previous one. This will not be repaired until the'early hours of this morning. Passengers had to be transferred to trains on either side of the washout. ; J r; -. Several small slips and washouts occurred r <>n the, Otira Line, but fraitjij wits hot interfered with to any great extent. On the railway line between Kimmra a«d Hokitika there wero also several small washouts, but trains wore; not held up, though the reduced speed necessitated by the bad state of this section caused the trains to arrive late. : at their respective destinations. The Stationmaster, Mr L. Marshall, stated last evening that he expected all trains u to he running to schedule to-day. ; In the vicinity of Runanga there was high flooding, the rainfall being, the heaviest experienced thereabouts: for a long time. The creeks were in: high flood, being unable to cprry the flooded waters, which overflowed Into the paddocks and drove stock to higher regions. There was .a big slipping away of the Taylorville road at 2.10 p.m., and McVicnr’s butcher’s lorry, from Blackball, bad just passed over when the road collapsed. A very timely action wais that of Mr Dick Collins, of Taylorville, who happened to be nearby, and, witnessing the road slip away, be staked it off. No sooner had he done so than a motor car came along, and had it not been for the blockage, the car w T ould have gone into the cavity. It is stated that the road will take some time to repair, 'as it lias, built upon a rock formation' on arH angle. Traffic will, as a result, be held up on the Taylorville side of the Grey River for some time. Another slip occurred between Taylorville and Greymoutli at "Warrens Farm. There are also other slips on the Grey road near Omoto.