HEAVY SEAS AT AUCKLAND

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24867, 6 May 1946, Page 4

HEAVY SEAS AT AUCKLAND

EXTENSIVE DAMAGF ON WATERFRONT MANY RETAINING WALLS SHATTERED " The Press " Special Service AUCKLAND, May 5. The toll of costly damage along, the Milford waterfront mounted at the week-end when exceptionally heavy seas at high tide swept ovfer the beach. The continual battering in the last week has shattered retaining walls which once protected private properties, and scoured out large sections of lawns and gardens, bringing the sea dangerously close to houses. In some places the level of the beach has been * lowered as much as six and nine feet Although the damage is not as extensive as at Milford, several proper* ties at Cheltenham beach have also suffered severely. Fifteen properties at Milford and six at Cheltenham have been damaged by pounding seas and in one case the water has cut its way to within three yards of a front door. Had not the wind and seas dropped on Saturday, the residents would have been forced to evacuate the house. Many concrete walls collapsed under their oxyn weight or fell on to the beach while wooden walls were, in many cases, ripped to pieces by the heavy seas. . Pieces of the w ooden walls plunging in the surf added to the difficulties <» residents, who fought a hopeless battle against the elements by constructing sand-bag walls and attempting to repair damaged walls. There was little they could do, however, but watch and wait for the wind to fall and the see* to recede. The few remaining portions of wall, cracked, broken, and tean*»| at fantastic angles, have been marram “dangerous" by small notice boards. The damage at Milford is expected to total several thousands of pdunds, although no accurate estimate is yet porsible. One resident stated that his retaining wall, which remains damaged but standing, cost £3OO 10 years agft while one next door, which collapwa under the heavy seas, cost about Cost of replacement to-day would De considerably higher.