IN WINTER'S GRIP
ELSEWHERE IN SOUTH
TIMARU SEVERELY HIT P.A ! . CHRISTCHURCH, Sunday. Reports from other parts of the South Island record falls of snow in varying degrees of" severity. At Timaru the storm was the heaviest on record. Power lines collapsed during the night, cutting off the supply, and as a result several industries came to a standstill.
Telegraphic communication with the north was cut off, the only contact Timaru had with' Wellington being by battery radio operated by the Post and Telegraph Department. Telephone circuits suffered the same fate as power lines, and in Timaru no fewer than 700 subscribers reported their lines out of order.
As a result of the failure of electric power, hundreds of citizens who had no other services in their hemes for heating, lighting and cooking spent a miserable day until 3.35 p.m., when the power was restored. The fall varied from 7in in the business area near the sea to more than a foot at Highfield, which is a residential area. The town was cut off from Christchurch by telegraph and telephone all day Saturday, and it was also impossible to make contact with stations west of Timaru, as the snow extended from the coast right to the Alps. Conditions on West Coast A Press Association message from Greymouth states that the West Coast was completely cut off from Canterbury by road and rail and telephone on Saturday because of heavy snowfalls. The Greymouth district experienced heavy rain and high winds on Friday night and early on Saturday morning. The rainfall for 24 hours to nine o'clock on Saturday morning was 2.45 in, making the total fer the year to date 62.66 in.
The Grey River on Saturday had a fresh of six knots, which is considered likely to have a beneficial effect, on the bar depth. Meantime, however, all shipping movements are prevented by the strong run and heavy seas.
The Lewis Pass and Otira Gorge routes between the West Coast and Canterbury were impassable on Saturday. The only route open from the WestsCcast was to Nelson and Blenheim.
Passengers on a railcar which left Greymouth for Christchurch on Saturday evening had an unenviable trip.
After a few light flurries of snow on Saturday night, a fairly heavy fall occurred in Dunedin early this morning, and by daylight the city lay under a mantle of white that ranged from lin to 3in in depth. No essential services in the city were affected, however, arid the visitation was mild compared with the blizzard which swept across Canterbury.
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Bibliographic details
IN WINTER'S GRIP, Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 166, 16 July 1945
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424IN WINTER'S GRIP Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 166, 16 July 1945
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