HEAVY SNOWFALL.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1918, Page 5

HEAVY SNOWFALL.

IN THE FAIRLIE DISTRICT. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Timaru, July 3. Though the country a few miles from the coast has had no snow, much has fallen inland, and it is heavy in the district and the Eastern Mackenzie Basin. Fnirlic reports 27in, hut the trains run through after an engine with a snow-plough has passed. Over Burke's Pass the snow is 3y 3 ft, and at Te Kapo 3ft, at Ashwiek and Sherwood Downs Settlements Sft to 4ft* On the Grampians and Haldon Runs there is only 7in or. Bin, and at Pukaki 12' in. There was 27in at the 'Hermitage on Monday evening. This is the first heavy snow since 1911, when 17in fell at Fai'rlie. WEATHER BAD IN CANTERBURY. LAKE COLERIDGE LINE STILL BROKEN. Christchurch, July 3. Rain continues steadily to-day. Reports from North Canterbury state that there is no improvement in the conditions. The railway line is Mocked in places with snowdrifts some 4ft in depth. The Cheviot line is also Mocked by a slip near Domett. The city is still isolated from the principal supply of electric currrent. The engineers of the electrical department have not yet got into communication with Lake Coleridge, and there are no more hopes of success than yesterday. The chief engineer left this morning with his staff in a motor-car to try to get to the lake and arrange that the current be sent through. The weather shows generally a slight Improvement this afternoon. The position with regard to the telegraph lines is unchanged. The repair gangs are finding difficulty with the work, owing to the condition of the roads and weather.

LATEST DETAILS. FACTORIES COMPULSORTLY CLOSED COMMUNICATION WITH POWERHOUSE. HEAVY LOSSES OF STOCK FEARED. Christchurch, Last Night. The snowstorm which set in on Sunday, and continued till Tuesday, played havoc with the telegraph, train, and electric power services, and matters have not reached normal. The Lake Coleridge current has been off since Sunday and the city is practically in darkness. The tramway board and city council have been able to supply a limited amount of power, but not sufficient to enable industries to keep going, and in many factories a compulsory holiday had to be observed. To-day communication was obtained with Lake Coleridge, a Russian (Boris Daniels) getting to the powerhouse on skis. One transmission line is free of faults and power will probably be available to-morrow.

There is up to six feet of snow in the country, and heavy losses of stock are feared. Miles of telegraph wires are down, and the train service on many of the lines is dislocated. The West Coast train is snow-bound at Waddington, while others are held up on branch lines. Telegraphic communication with AVellington has been established via the West Coast to-day, a fact which has caused general satisfaction. Frost has succeeded the 9now, making the restoration of the interrupted services more difficult.

ROADS IMPASSABLE. FIFTEEN INCHES OF SNOW AT OXFORD. The snow storm which commenced in North Canterbury on Sunday evening continued throughout the night. At daybreak on Monday there was a sudden and quite unexpected change in the direction of the wind from a westerly to a south-easter, which brought with it very heavy rain off the sea. The rain continued unceasingly till 2 p.m., and the wind then veered to the south-west, and the rain again gave place to snow, which had not ceased to fall when the train from the north came through. The snowfall was the heaviest experienced in North Canterbury for the past twenty-three years. At Oxford there was a depth of fourteen inches when the morning train left, and it was still snowing. At Cust the snow was nine inches deep, and at Rangiora about nine inches. From Christchurch up to within a mile or two of Sonthbrook there was no snow to be seen from the railway, and from a little north of Ashley to Amberley the country in the direction of the sea was also clear. Further r.orth, and in a westerly direction, the plains and hills were heavily coated, a depth of a foot being recorded at Waikari yesterday morning.

In the Ashley county the fall was very heavy, the crown of the road at Jjoburn beinp covered to a depth of a foot, and at North Loburn to a depth of two feet. The condition of the country nearer the hills could not be ascertained, owing to the roads being impassable and the telephon«%lines down. The morning train from Waikari vras three-quarters of an hour late in reaching Rangiora, owing to the snow-drifts in'the Welca IPass. The snow on the rails also delayed the Oxford-Eangiora train nearly half an hour.

ASHBURTON COUNTY. THREE FEET OF SNOW ON FOOTHILLS, After ten degrees of fro9t at Ashburton during Saturday night, sleet began to fall at 9 a.m. on Sunday. Small scattered flakes of snow fell throughout the day till 5 p.m., when rain set in. The rain came down heavily for a, couple of hours, and soon afterwards it started to hiow in earnest, and at daylight on Monday morning the ground was covered to a depth of from two and a half to three inches in all directions, A_ rapid thaw set in at about 6 a.m., and by noon on Monday most of the snow had melted on the footpaths and the centre of the roads. The weather remained bitterly cold and threatening throughout the day, and there wore indications of a further fall o* stow or rain. It wns about the most wm-ry snap which had been experienced in the Ash--burton district for about fourteenjw&s,

Rangitata, Mount Somcrs, Springbum, Staveley, and Alfoid districts was very heavy, and the flats all along the foothills were covered on Monday morning to a depth varying from 18in. to' 2ft., while away further back there is over 3ft. of snow in many places. The owners of the numerous sheep runs will have got most of their fioeks down from off the high country on to the flat parts of the runs, as there was a very considerable fall of snow up the Ashburton Gorge early in June, when snow raking commenced and was continued even away down on to the lowest parts of the runs. •