CANTERBURY FLOODS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 March 1941, Page 5

CANTERBURY FLOODS

• LINE TO THE WEST COAST BLOCKED HUGE SLIPS CRASH DOWN. SERIOUS DAMAGE TO BRIDGES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, March 18. Heavy rain in the watershed above Springfield brought down slips and washouts this afternoon along the line between Christchurch and. the West Coast. The line is now blocked and this evening, the railway authorities were unable to give any definite indication of when it would be available again for through traffic. One huge slip, 600 yards long, came down near the Staircase, nine miles from Springfield. Another crashed down on to a small bridge between No. 3 and No. 4 tunnel, not very far from Springfield, smashing two spans of the bridge. One span has disappeared and the other is hanging in mid-air. The express from Greymouth, due along this span of line not much later, was halted and ultimately sent back to Greymouth, it being impossible to transport passengers by motor-bus as the only road available over Porter’s Pass was also blocked. A slip between the Staircase and Kowhai blocked the mouth of a railway tunnel. Later more material started to come down, and it will not be known till the gangs of workmen sent up today have moved thousands of tons of debris whether the line itself has been swept away. Workmen have two slios to clear away before they get to the broken bridge. It was still raining in the Springfield area this evening and indications were that the workmen sent up to deal with the trouble would have an unenviable time. Fully equipped breakdown trains were sent up. The north line, near Culverden, was under water for a long stretch today and goods trains were unable to get through. The South Island main trunk line was not seriously affected. Some, huge boulders came down in the Hawkswood cutting but these were soon shifted and that train got through without difficulty.

A Press Association message from Timaru states that after a prolonged dry spell which gave promise of being serious for farmers who were handicapped in the autumn sowing of crons, the weather broke in South Canterbury on Saturday, since when there has been continuous rain. In some parts of the district over five inches lias been recorded. Rivers are all running high, and. as rain is still falling, general flooding is imminent. A Union Airways liner which landed at Timaru on Monday’s trip to Dunedin because of heavy rain, stayed the night, passengers going on by road. Though the airport surface was heavy, the liner was able to take off on her return north yesterday morning.