HEAVY DAMAGE IN HIGH TIDE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23352, 11 June 1941, Page 6

HEAVY DAMAGE IN HIGH TIDE

Seas Enter Houses At Redcliffs roads, retaining walls, AND BOATS SUFFER The heaviest spring tide in many years did damage at Redcliffs and Sumner last evening that will take thousands of pounds to repair.’ Retaining walls at Redcliffs were swept away, houses flooded, boats carried on to the rocks, and roads, and tram lines blocked. Big sections of the retaining wall along the road at Scarborough were demolished, parts of the tar-sealed road were torn up, and the boat harbour was damaged.

Recent heavy erosion on the sand hills on the New Brighton side has opened wider the entrance to the Estuary. The heavy sea last evening carried away another half-chain, and with a high north-east wind behind it the tide dashed the waves with fury against the walls in front of properties in Redcliffs. Many were soon pushed over and the sea beat against the doors and walls of houses. Housewives moved their furniture to what dry places they could find watched the waters rise inside their homes to a height of four to 12 inches. A few were forced to leave. Waves broke right across the mam road at Monck’s Bay, throwing spray high over motor-cars and strewing the road with stones and debris from the sea wall. The 4.46 p.m. tram from Sumner was travelling through the water when it struck an obstruction on the line beneath the water and was derailed. The road at St. Andrew’s Kill, for about a quarter of a mile between the Heathcote bridge and the causeway, was heavily flooded, and debris over the rails prevented trams from moving. Trams could not pass at all during the evening, and buses carried the passengers. At one stage they were required to make a detour over St. Andrew’s Hill. Damage to Boats Heavy damage was done among the 70 boats at the Christchurch Yacht Club’s moorings in Monck’s Bay. Members of the club, with the water waisthigh on the landing stage, saved many big boats, but all, even those on the repair slips, were tossed about and battered against one another. A racing dinghy, Nike, was carried by the sea on to the road and left stranded on the tram lines. Its mast wag in contact with the overhead tramway wires and several young men who touched the boat were thrown, off their feet. A racing dinghy, Challenge, owned by D. Sunborne, was holed beyond repair, and a small keeler, Kiwi, was badly damaged. The waves beat down the door of the boatshed of Mr George Andrews, boatbuilder, and swept through the full length of the building. The brick wall of an adjacent shed was torn down and bricks tossed into a dinghy that had been swept over the rocks. Next door a concrete wall 30 feet long lay reduced to a heap of rubble. When the tram service was disrupted a gang of men was at once rushed to clear the lines, but it was impossible to make way for trams' during the evening. The men were to continue the work during the night. The flooding of the road was at its, worst qear the Mount Pleasant store, which many cars w ere at one stage unable to pass. Debris, stones, and some heavy rocks had been thrown on to the tar-sealed surface, Pratt street, Bay View road, Estuary road, and Cliff street, Redcliffs, were all flooded, and gardens were under six inches to a foot of water. The causeway road remained comparatively dry. Although the sky cleared last evening and the wind dropped, the residents along the waterfront at Redcliffs were in fear Of further trouble, with the high tide about 6 o’clock this morning. Some claimed last night that the erosion of sand at the mouth of the estuary exposed them to greater flood danger than they had ever known before.

GALE ON WEST COAST HEAVY RAIN CAUSES MINOR FLOODING WINDOWS BLOWN IN AT GREYMOUTH / (F.0.0.R.) GREYMOUTH, June 10. Exceedingly boisterous weather was experienced at Greymouth to-day. Accompanied by heavy rain, a northerly gale swept the West Coast. There was a steady wind of a force exceeding 50 miles an hour at times. The heavier gusts caused pme -damage. The increase in the wind accompanied a sharp drop in the barometic pressure, from 998 millibars at 9 a.m. to 982 millibars at 3 p.m. Heavy rain fell at Greymouth, the total fall up to 9 a.m. this morning being 1.13 inches, while another 50 points fell in the following three hours. There was only a slight rise in the Grey river, but smaller streams in the district rose rapidly and there was the usual minor flooding in the low-lying parts of the town. The gale reached its full strength about noon and a number of lunch-hour cyclists were blown completely over in some exposed streets. One particularly heavy gust of wind blew out a plateglass window in ,Grey Motors showrooms in Tainui street, the damage being estimated at £25. Another window" was blown out at the Albion Hotel in MawhCra quay. A pine tree growing in a section at the corner of Turamaha street and School lane was blown out of the ground this afternoon and carried with it about 20 yards of a concrete protection wall a foot thick and more than five feet high at its apex. The wall and the tree blocked the lane to all but pedestrisn trsffic Although the main services were not affected, many small troubles occurred on the Grey Electric Power Boards lines, as a result of the gale, and linesmen had to be dispatched to many parts of the board’s area. This morning a tree was blown across a . branch line up the Ten Mile Creek, cutting off power from several co-operative mines, and causing an interruption on the Barry town line. Because of the large number of small troubles, it was not anticipated that they could all be attended 1o until late to-night. Late this afternoon there was . an abatement of the storm and no serious flooding was anticipated, the barometer displaying a tendency to rise again slightly. FLOODING AT HOKITIKA (F.0.0.R.) . HOKITIKA, June 10. Exceptionally heavy rain set in last night and later a violent northerly gale developed. This continued until after daybreak, when the rain eased somewhat, although the gale continued. Later the rain became Heavier and, combined with spring tides, caused an extremely heavy flood in the river. Water backed up in the low-lying parts of the town, flooding many areas. The water this afternoon had not entered any business premises, but at 4 p.m. rain was still falling steadily, accompanied by a heavy north-west gale. The flood waters were held by the huge bank of sand across the mouth of the •river. DAMAGE AT DUNEDIN (P.A.) DUNEDIN, June 10. Backed up by a high northerly wind and heavy seas, one of the highest spring tides recorded in Otago Harbour lifted two boatsheds from their piles on the waterfront at Vauxhall this afternoon, and wrecked them. A launch and several boats, including the well-known 14-footers Lynette and Rawene, and the Takapuna class Pupuke. were badly damaged. A conservative estimate of the damage is £3OO.

LIFEBOAT IN DANGER HIGH SEAS AT SUMNER RETAINING WALL DAMAGED The Sumner lifeboat, Rescue 11, was in danger when the high seas early last evening broke in the doors of the boatshed at Scarborough. It was saved from damage when Mr Roy King, a member of the lifeboat crew, working for some time in the midst of the flood waters, lashed it securely to its stand. The retaining wall along the road from the tea kiosk to the boatshed was severely damaged. Big - sections were demolished, and parts of the tar-sealed road were torn up. The new sea wall and slipway at the boatsheds were battered and damaged. The'-heavy fails on the breakwater were twisted and a section more than 60 feet long removed from the stonework.