GALE AND RAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 January 1940, Page 6

GALE AND RAIN

DAMAGE IN AUCKLAND DISTRICT YACHTS AND LAUNCHES SWEPT ASHORE. FLOODING OF SHOPS REPORTED AT KOHIMARAMA. „ (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, January 14. Heavy rain squalls and a gale, which reached a maximum velocity early this morning of 72 miles an hour, were experienced throughout the province during the passage of a cyclonic storm. High seas swept beaches on the harbour during the' night, and more than 20 yachts and launches were carried ashore. Most of the craft were damaged, and a number were reduced to broken shells. After intermittent showers a downpour developed at midday yesterday, 0.30 in of rain falling in 20 minutes. In the 24 hours ended 9 a.m. today the rainfall was 3.32 in, the highest recording ih one day for some years. Harbour beaches were strewn today with wreckage of small craft. During the height of the gale, shortly after midnight, waves between 20 and 25 feet high were breaking over the breastwork of Waterfront Road leading to marine suburbs. Slips of stone and rubble fell from cliffsides, and, with visibility limited to a few feet in pouring rain, traffic along the road was practically at a standstill for several hours.

In spite of high seas, a group of members of the Kohimarama Yacht Club made valiant efforts to salvage more than half-a-dozen craft, which had broken adrift. In some cases their efforts were successful, but there were other instances where nothing could be done to prevent the boats from breaking up on the rocks.

An indication of the force of the gale was provided by a 15ft yacht, which dragged a five-hundredweight mooring block for more than a quarter of a mile before being cast up on the beach. The retaining wall along Waterfront Road was damaged in several places, and several shops at Kohimarama, though on the opposite side of the road, were flooded by seawater to a depth of about six inches. In other parts of the city power poles and trees were blown down, and fruitgrowers, 'specially at Avondale, Henderson Valley and Tauranga, suffered severely.