TRAINS HELD UP BY SLIP

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25377, 27 December 1947, Page 6

TRAINS HELD UP BY SLIP

HEAVY RAIN IN ALPS RIVERS RISE IN SOUTH CANTERBURY Both the Greymouth-Chriatchurch and the Christchurch-Greymouth expresses were held up yesterday afternoon by a slip caused by a washout on the line about one mile from Arthur s Pass on the Canterbury side. Heavy rain had been general in the area since about 9.30 p.m. cn Christmas Eve, and three feet of water covered the permanent way beside the slip near the swollen Bealey river. Breakdown gangs were sent to the slip immediately, and worked with hand tools to clear the line and to reinforce it so that the perishable goods trains and the rail-cars could pass through without danger. The line was cleared by 9 p.m., and the Greymouth-Christchurch rail car arrived in Christchurch a few minutes after midnight. Passengers on the expresses were transhipped from train to train, both expresses returning to their starting points. The passengers walked through the rain with their luggage for about 50 yards. The express arrived in Christchurch at 11.30 p.m., six and a half hours late. As soon as it was learned that the slip had occurred, a special telephone was attached to the Railways Department’s telephone lines at the point, and the train-running department at the Christchurch station was in constant communication with officers in charge of the task of clearing the Ime. In case it had been necessary to tranship passengers from the rail-cars, special rail-cars were sent to the slip earlier in the day, but as the line was cleared by the quick work of the gangs, this was not necessary. Washouts on the road approaching the Bealey from the Canterbury side had occurred in three places, Burney’s creek, Halpins creek, and Broad creek, according to the Automobile Association (Canterbury) last evening. These three creeks lie between Cass and the Bealey. The association advised that it was only possible to drive motor vehicles along this road as far as Although heavy rain had fallen all day yesterday in the area the Lewis Pass road was open to vehicular traffic last evening, and cars were passing through during the night. The Otira road, which was blocked earlier this week, would probably not be open again for a few days, said an official of' the association. Rainfall throughout the West Coast yesterday was generally heavy. All streams were considerably swollen as a result of rain in the high country, and there were moderate floods, in low-lying places. There was only a three and a half knot run in the river at Greymouth early last evening, but it was expected that when the rain, water from the hills drained into the river there would be some flooding. Flooding in Hokitika High winds and very heavy rain were experienced yesterday morning in Hokitika. The rain stopped after a temporary south-west change in the afternoon, but the effect of heavy falls in the back country brought the Hokitika river down in fiill flood. There was surface flooding in the streets of the low-lying business areas, which were seriously affected by the flood a few months ago. High tide in the evening did not affect the flood waters in the streets, and unless more heavy rain fell in the ranges there appeared to be no likelihood of the flood waters backing up and endangering stocks in business premises. Because of heavy rain in the back country, the South Canterbury Catchment Board yesterday broadcast a precautionary warning to farmers to move stock from low-lying areas near the Rangitata and Orari rivers. Information had been received by the board that two inches of rain had fallen in the Mount Harper area of the Rangitata Gorge since the morning, and that the liver there was in spate from bank to bank. The Hewson river, near its junction with the Phantom river in the upper reaches of the Orari, was in flood, and heavy rain was falling in the nearby back country. When a representative of '.“The Press” visited the Rangitata river near the Arundel bridge last evening, the river was dirty and in high flood. There was, however, no sign of flooding in the Orari river by the upper Orari bridge. The liaison officer to the South Canterbury Catchment Board (Mr C. J. Kerr) said last evening that the warning was broadcast to farmers merely as a precaution, and that later broadcasts would be gjade if it were thought necessary.