20 HOURS’ RAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 December 1938, Page 5

20 HOURS’ RAIN

EXTENSIVE FLOODING OCCURS IN DUNEDIN WATER INVADES SEVERAL HOUSES. I CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE DONE TO PROPERTY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, December 4. The worst storm of its kind that has occurred in Dunedin for many years took place over the weekend when rain, which was for a large part of the time exceptionally heavy, fell continuously for about 20 hours. Beginning at about 4.30 p.m. on Saturday, the rain fell without a break till about noon today, registering a little over 4 inches. The ordinary stormwater drainage in most parts of the city, specially on the flat areas, proved inadequate to cope with the extraordinary amount of water that was accumulating, with the result that steep streets were soon carrying rushing streams. Great’ spouts of water gushed through the pavements and in the Glen, which has frequently been . subject to flooding, several houses were entered by water. The first flooding soon subsided to a certain extent, and it was generally considered that the peak of the storm { was over, but heavy and unceasing rain through the night brought on a major < crisis in which houses in the flat area, and in other parts of the city and environs as well, had to be hurriedly evacuated at about two o’clock this morning. Extensive damage was done to property as well as to streets and roads. On Otago Peninsula, between Waverley and Macandrew Bay, a house which was in the way of a eight-foot high wall of silt that was moving down the hillside was completely destroyed. At St Clair roads were blocked by slips and considerable minor flooding took place before the storm subsided. The Carisbrook cricket ground, where matches were in progress on Saturday, was completely covered by two or -three feet of water today. STORM-WATER MAIN BURSTS. The bursting of a storm-water drain in Wilkie Road was the cause of most serious flooding, the whole of the area round Kensington being inundated early in the morning. It was impossible for cars to go through Bridgman Street and Grosvenor Street and Wain Street, the short thoroughfare beside the railway embankment, all having about 3ft of water lying in them till the morning was well advanced. The Kensington School and houses in Grosvenor and Wain Street were flooded, and it has been decided not to reopen the school till Thursday. A coating of silt was deposited in several rqoms, and it is considered that after this .has been cleared away it will be a day or two before the school is dry. In Wain Street, even towards midday, the watex’ was still well above the floor level of some of the houses, and at the end of the street and in the yard of McSkimming’s pottery works, it was about three feet deep. Most of the streets connecting Cargill Road and Macandrew Road were like rivers, and in the locality of Richmond, Nelson and Helena Streets the water was up to the doorsteps of most of the houses, some actually being entered. The shopping centre in South Dunedin did not go scathless, water entering a number of shops. A large slip on the hill above Ravensbourne provided the numerous streams which filled every small gully with a huge quantity of material which was washed down the steep slope to the houses on the Dunedin-Port Chalmers road. Just past the entrance to the fertilizer works two houses have been left in what appears to be a precarious position, the banks in front of them having fallen away and left portions of the verandas hanging over space. Further along greater damage has ■ been done by the swiftly-running water and the properties of Messrs H. Guthrie and M. Rosie have been devastated. One of these two properties has served to dam back a small stream, with the result that soft, sticky clay, has covered the backyard almost to the level of the windows. . CANTERBURY DRENCHED. FARM LANDS DAMAGED. TIMARU, Diecember 4. Exceptionally heavy rain fell throughout South Canterbury on Saturday afternoon and night, serious flooding occurring in many places. Farmers in the Sutherlands district, near- Cave, will incux- heavy losses as the result of a cloudburst. Mr T. B. Hart, a farmer in the district, was working in a tool shed near a creek bed which is usually dry, when he heard a roaring sound. He rushed out to see a wall of watei' eight feet high pushing a mass of native trees and other debris down the gully. The flood remained at its peak for about an hour, but fortunately no buildings or homesteads were in the path of the flood waters. The greatest damage was done by the fringe of the cloudburst, which badly scoured many acres of worked land.. A downpour on the Pareora watershed caused extensive damage to the water race leading to the reservoir from which Timaru draws it supply. Many slips occurred, and it will be a considerable time before an adequate reserve supply can be built up. The position of the borough supply is at present serious, and citizens have been urged to exercise great care.