THE SNOWSTORM.
PADDOCKS A SEA OF WATER. COUNTRY DISTRICTS SUFFER. Most of the paddocks between Christchurch and Kaiapoi were a sea of water, according to tiie statement of Captain S. M. M'Gee, command paymaster at Chvistchureh, to a reporter on Thursday. At Rangiora, a man who descended from his railway carriage, plunged into snow nearly up to his knees. Further up the line the country was under a white mantle, pierced only by fenceposts and trees. At Balcaini, the train had to wait for about an hour while a man went on foot, to see that the line was all right. He added that telegraph poles' were "down all over the place," and the. wires were in a terrible tangle. The train had to stop on a bridge because a tangle of wires had fouled a ventilator on the guard's van. Thig was cleared away by a telegraph gang on the train. Snow 15in deep was measured on the platform at Waipara.
The severest snowstorm ever experienced at Waikari took place on Monday night. On Sunday evening snow commenced to fall, and from three to four inches covered the ground on Monday morning. During Monday afternoon, the weather became much worse, and snow fell heavily during the whole of the night. The average depth was about 2ft, with drifts varying up to 10ft deep. Communication was completely cut off, both by train and telephone. Practically every telegraph-pole between Waikari and Leithfleld was broken down. The new line recently erected by the Post and Telegraph Department through the township was all lying across the road. On Wednesday afternoon an engine managed to make its way up through the W r eka Pass. In some of the cuttings the snow was piled up to such an extent that the engine could not push its way through, and a way had to be cleared hy the linemen Telephone lines recently erected by the Waipara County Council were down, and it would take some months before they were in working order again.
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Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1918, Page 6
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338THE SNOWSTORM. Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1918, Page 6
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