A WINTRY DAY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21148, 26 April 1934, Page 10

A WINTRY DAY

-. * „ RAIN AND HAIL WITH SNOW IN HACK COINTKY A south-west gale bringing heavy rain and haiJ. with snow in the back i country, blew across, practically the whole of Canterbury yesterday. JThe streets m many towns were ' awash all day, and from Mid-Can- | terbury, especially the Rakaia I Gorge, there were reports of slight !flooding : The rain began to fall in Chnsti church about 10.30 a.m.. and continued to fall heavily all the mornl ing. The afternoon was showery, land there were some heavy falls '< again in the evening. It was still raining at midnight, by which time 42 points had fallen. A report from the Rakaia Gorge said that rain had been falling m 1 the mountains since Monday, and that all the creeks had been fresh- ' ing. Yesterday morning. ti:i: fain I began to fall with increased inten- . sitv, and water was flowing down ; the Rakaia Gorge road to a depth of three or four inches. Near the 'Mount Hutt creamery, the water ' was six inches deep, and scouring was taking place, but if wp.s not ;severe. All the mountains in the ! Mid-Canterbury district, especially i Mount Hutt, Mount Somers. and I Mount Peel, were liberally coated i with snow. ! At Lyttelton a strong south - westierly gale was accompanied bv a ! heavy downpour of rain. Many j trampers were out on the hills and j had to make haste for shelter. One '.party of trampers became stranded • at Governor's Bay, and had to charter a launch from Lyttelton to convey thern to the port to enable them j to" complete the journey to Christ- ! church by train. ! At Methven and Oxford, one or i two showers of hail fell', and at the I back of Kaikoura there was heavy snow. In all districts the day was j bitterly cold, and the indications j were that the rain was going to : continue. ', CONDITION'S ON THE WEST COAST I'STEi' Ul. TO THE PTIIiSS.; GREYMOUTH, April 25. The weather at Grey mouth turned exceptionally cold to-day. and occa- < sional showers of rain were experi- ! enced. Extremely heavy rain had I fallen the previous night and earlier ! in the week there were severe eleci trical storms on the coast, especially in the Kokatahi district. So severe : were they that farmers had one morn- , ing to turn their cows out instead of ■ milking them, as the animals were ; terrified of the lightning. ! The weather all over the Coast for the last 10 days has been execptioni ally bad, the rainfall being very heavy. 1 even for the Coast. The extremely cold snap to-night leads to the belief that the rain may be ended.