ROAD BLOCKS SET UP

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26124, 29 May 1950, Page 6

ROAD BLOCKS SET UP

SPECTATORS TURNED BACK By car or by bicycle, hundreds of Christchurch people moved out along the Main North road on Saturday to see the flood waters, but they were doomed to disappointment, as the police and Tran: port Department had established road blocks at the Belfast Hotel on the Main North road and at the intersection of the Main North road and Marshland road, and only » very good excuse would induce the officers on duty to allow motorists any further. Police at Kaiapoi and Ran:ora were also instructed to bl-’CK traffic from proceeding southward in’o the flood zone. Even those on loot were being turned away from the danger areas in the afternoon as a safety measure. Sergeant L. Blake and three constables from the Christchurch Central Police Station went out to the scene early on Saturday morning, and later they were reinforced. The police assisted with rescue operations, and by early afternoon they were able to report that there was no one in any imminent danger. Yesterday when the road was open again for traffic hundreds more spectators bv car and bicycle visited the flood areas. In the afternoon the traffic became very dense, and with the river rising the police and traffic inspectors again restricted movement by car. to give Catchment Board employees IreJ movement, hut hundreds then walked to the main bridge. Cars were parked on the sides of the road back to Belfast. and traffic was at times so thick it was able to move only at a snails pace.