DAMAGE BY FLOODS

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26125, 30 May 1950, Page 6

DAMAGE BY FLOODS

All Rivers Now Subsiding RAIL AND ROAD REPAIRS Rivers on the West Coast and in Canterbury which were in high flood during the week-end subsided rapidly yesterday enabling repair work on roads and railway lines to be pushed ahead. No estimate has yet been made of the period required to put the Midland railway line in working order. In the meantime an emergency road transport service has been organised. Yesterday most of the miners in the Blackball area were idle because the railway bridge over the Grey river which carries all the coal produced in the area had been seriously damaged in the flood. Direct road access to Greymouth from Christchurch by the Lewis Pass will be possible to-day. The road from Reefton to Greymouth will be open at 9 a.m. Telephone and telegraph communications on the West Coast, which were interrupted on Friday evening, are almost back to normal. RAILWAY TO WEST COAST PASSENGERS CARRIED BY BUS ARMY TRUCKS TRANSPORT PERISHABLE GOODS Relief transport arrangements to the West Coast have been made by the New Zealand Railways Department. Yesterday 128 passengers were carried by special buses, and 15 threeton trucks supplied by the Army Department transported perishable goods from Christchurch as far as Reeftou. Nine trucks from the Army will be used to-day. Rail communications between Christchurch and the West Coast are not expected to be resumed before the week-end. Two shifts are working 24 hours a day on the much-damaged Midland line, and Christchurch officials were reluctant yesterday to estimate how long it would take to repair the damage. A further four Railways Road Services buses will leave Christchurch today for Reefton, where passengers will connect for Greyrhouth by rail. The same procedure is adopted by the emergency goods service. The Army trucks deposit their goods at Reef ton and they are carried the rest of the way by rail to Greymouth. Any goods consigned to Westport will be carried the remainder of the distance by road transport along the coast road from Greymouth.

The Railways Department is giving foodstuffs priority, and at the same time endeavouring to clear goods on hand. The quantity which will be carried will depend entirely on how many trucks the Army Department will be able to supply. It is not expected that the department will be able to maintain nine trucks a day. The Railways Department is also providing a road service, leaving at 2 a.m.. through the Lewis Pass to take the mails and newspapers usually carried by the Christchurch-Grey-mouth rail-car leaving Christchurch at 2.20 a.m.

Three portable radios, operated by Army personnel, have been put at the disposal of the Railways Department, the Ministry of Works, the Main Highways Board, and the State Hydroelectric Department, which are working in co-operation to restore road and rail communications in the Cass area, said the chief of staff of Southern Military District (Colonel W. R. K. Morrison) yesterday. One of the sets in the network ?s based on the Cass railway station, and the two others are at either end of the Waimakariri railway bridge. Three Army vehicles are also being used in this area.