A SOLID WALL OF RAIN.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9465, 7 June 1909, Page 2

A SOLID WALL OF RAIN.

EXTRAORDINARY SCENE. Remarkable weather phenomena are described in a report yfrom Mr H. B. Devereux, of Waibi, quote! by the Rev. D. O. Bates in his mateorologioal surumaiy for March. Says Mr Deverenx, referring to March 29fch “After noon the river rose at a phenomenal rate, and soon all former flood-levels were passed, and had the rain not eased off the damage would have been serious. As it was, a large area of country was Inundated, and seveial buildings on the flat were almost submerged. At 1 p.m. there was an electrical discharge in the east which was undoubtedly of the nature of a thunderholfc,and which was evidently associated with a great atmospheric upheaval. I was so confident of this that on Monday of this week I rode out to the ooast, and found in a valley undoubted evidence of a cloudburst. An extraordmaity scene of destruction was viewed. For a radius of a mile innumerable landslips were to be seen, but the most noticeable feature was the long distances which boulders, soil, and trees had been transported. The stream-bed was almost unrecognisable, and had carried large boulders and debris right down to the sandhills, through which it had out a fresh' outlet. Everywhere was evidence of an exceptional rainfall. A resident in the valley states that the whole thing occurred within twenty minutes, and that the water came down in a solid wall. Luckily the wind-force at the time was never below of a moderate breeze. Residents farther down the coast report abnormal falls and damage. ’ ’