BUS PASSENGERS STRANDED

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24571, 21 May 1945, Page 4

BUS PASSENGERS STRANDED

ARMY CARRIES FOOD SEVERE FLOODING AT LITTLE RIVER Special Army equipment and Army personnel carried food yesterday .to SO passengers from Railway Road Service buses who were isolate*} at the Lake Forsyth Hotel by the floods over the week-end. Lake FOrsyth rose to the highest level It has reached for many years, washing out the railway line in several places, completely blocking the main roads, and isolating the township of Little River, Where several families were forced to leave their homes. The bus passengers were accommodated at the hotel when their vehicles were left stranded on the road by the rising water on Saturday evening. A rail-car was sent to their rescue, but could get no further than Poranui. where it also was trapped by washouts on the line both ahead and behind. Mr F. D. Grant, district engineer to the Public Works Department, was advised of the position yesterday morning by the postmaster at Little River, and arrangements were made for an Army tank transporter, with a bulldozer oh board* and a Scammell artillery tractor to be sent out. The party of Army personnel was under Captain E. Boyle, and Mr E. C. Smith, district plant engineer, was in charge of the Public Works Department staff. Mr Smith, in conversation with a reporter of “The Press" last evening, praised the work of the Army personnel. The artillery tractor, of a type which had performed wonders in heavy going in the Middle East, was loaded with provisions. It proceeded on the road as far as it was negotiable and then climbed up the railway embankment and continued its journey to within a mile and a half of the hotel, where a wash-out prevented further progress. The food was left wrapped In a tarpaulin and a telephone message brought four men out from the hotel to collect the provisions. _ At Little River itself five families had to leave their homes and some camped in the railway goods shed. list evening the level of the water was dropping. Lake Forsyth having cut an outlet to the sea some 200 yards in width. The Public Works Department hopes to have two bulldozers working on the roads this morning and heavy traffic should be able to get through by this evening. Mr Grant said last evening that Lake Forsyth rose yesterday above the level of the railway line, which meant that the road must" have been under water in some places to a depth of five feet. The water bad encroached on the. end of the Little River township. It had been intended to try to get the bulldozer to Lake' Forsyth to cut an outlet, but Mr L. F. Foote, secretary of the Ellesmere Lands'JDrainage Board, subsequently advised him that the lake had broken out by itself and was expected to fall considerably with the falling tide. The lake had soon dropped four'feet. The equipment was sent on, however, as it would be needed to deal with the slips. From Birdling’s Flat to Little River the road was a mass of slips and it was a fair assumption that the main road to Akaroa would be as bad or worse.

HEAVY BAIN IN DUNEDIN

FIVE INCHES IN 24 HOURS (P.A.) DUNEDIN. May ?0. Sustained heavy rain, which commenced about midnight on Friday and continued without stopping throughout Saturday, caused serious flooding in many parts of the city, and at one stage a recurrence of. the • disastrous flood.of 1929. and the even worse visitation of 1923* was threatened. Between midnight on Friday and midnight on Saturday five inches of rain were recorded in Dunedin. The North-east Valley’ district was the area most seriously, affected. Lindsay’s creek rose so quickly that by 11.30 a.m. it was in high flood and the water invaded some of the houses in Miller street and Selwyn street. In the Glenroy area the position was so serious that some residents were preparing to evacuate their premises. There was up to a foot of water in the streets, and the water was lapping the floors of houses when Lindsay’s creek, Which was now carrying a big volume of water, burst its bank at the quarry, swept through a corrugated iron fence, and poured down the Main North, road as far as the Botanic Gardens. Ttys break, which occurred about 2 p.m., undoubtedly saved the Glenroy area from serious flooding, and an hour later the position generally had eased. No serious damage vvaS caused in any other part of the city. . Slips on the mam north railway line at Mihiwaka halted the express which left Dunedin at 11.32 a.m. on Saturday, and it was found impossible to bring the train back to Dunedin, as after it had passed another slip came down on the line near Port Chalmers. Railway Department buses subsequently transferred the 460 passengers to Waitati, where the express from Christchurch was turned round and 1100 passengers from the north were brought to Dunedin by road. The slips were being cleared to-day. and it was expected to dispatch the express for Christchurch to-night A small slip on the south line at Burnside and at the end of the Caversham tunnel delayed the express from Invercargill, which did not reach Dunedin until 11.20 a.m. on Saturday. To-day the line wag blocked by water at Otokia, and passengers to and from Invercargill were conveyed between Milton and Dunedin by bus.

Passengers from Invercargill and Dunedin by rail on Saturday did, not reach Christchurch till 6.15 a.m. yesterday. 11 hours 40 minutes behind schedule.