DAMAGE BY CLOUD-BURST.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 57, 31 October 1912, Page 5

DAMAGE BY CLOUD-BURST.

EFFECT OF HALF-HOUR DELUGE (Por Press Association.) Ashburton, October 30. A cloud-burst occurred at Ealing, prt the Ashburton banks of the R.uigi.ati River, twenty miles south of Ashburton, at about 3.30 this afteruorn and as a result the whole countryside for ; radius of about two miles was florxlo with water, which rose in many pad docks and roads to a depth of fro ' three to live feet . The delug lasted about half an hour, and tlm damage to land and crops must be con siderahle, while standing timber eta was carried away. The water rorfi ra ’ in torrents over the banks of the rail way cutting where the line descend' to 'the Rangitata railway bridge. U played havoc with the banks, co'rrugat ing and tearing them badly for full* a hundred yards. The shingle soon snomerged the rails and the flood waterconverged at the foot of the outturn in the two-chain open embankment bo tween the hanks and the beginning of the bridge proper. The force of the heavy volume destroyed the embank ro.ent totally for five or six yards, my 1 for all practical purposes for the whom two chains; |ln the central part'the rails and sleepers were left hangin" over a gap seven feet deep. The sec o-rid express from South was stopped at Rangitata and the goods train froth e North at -Ealing. and local main tennnee gangs immediately set to wor to clear the line. A relief train from Ashburton reach ed the scene I .'at 9.30, and passengers and mails and luggage were tranship pod from one train- to another. A good staff nf men were now on the scene. , Later. Although it will take about a week to repair the permanent way, through traffic will he resumed to-morrow by diverting the lines’. The full extent of the damage cannot he ascertained till daylight.