HEAVY CLOUDBURST.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10718, 31 October 1912, Page 5

HEAVY CLOUDBURST.

DAMAGE TO RAILWAY LINES

(By leietfraoti — As«ociAt-K»{i,l.

ASHBURTON, Last Night. A cloudburst occurred at Ealing, on the banks of tho Rangitata, and 20 miles south of Ashburton, at about 3.30 this afternoon. . As a result the whole countryside for a radius of about two miles, was flooded with water, which rose in many paddocks and roads to a depth of from three to five feet. The deluge lasted about half an hour, and the damage to land and crops must be considerable, whilo standing timber, etc., was carried away.

From the general public's point of view, however, tho worst feature of the phenomenon is its effect on the railway system. The water soon ran in torrents over the banks- of the railway cutting. Where the line descends to the Rangitata railway bridge it played havoc with ,the ban a* corrugating and tearing them badly for fully a hundred yards. The shingle soon submerged the rails and the flood waters converged at the foot of the cutting. In the two-chain open embankment between the banks and the beginning of the bridge proper, the force of "tho heavy volume destroyed the embankment totally for five or six yards, and for all practical purpose, the whole two chains. Tn the central part, the rails and sleepers wore left hanging over a gap seven feet deep. The second express from the south was stopped at- R,ingitata, and a goods train from north at Ealing. The local maintenance gang immediately set to work to clear the line. A relief train from Ashburton reached the scene at'9.3o, and rhe passengers, mails and baggage were trans-shipped from one train to another. Ashburton being reached on tho return journey at 10.20. A good staff of men are now on ihe scene. ;u:d repair work will proceed continuously, but there is no word as yet as to when traffic can he resumed.