GREYMOUTH’S ESCAPE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28471, 28 December 1957, Page 10

GREYMOUTH’S ESCAPE

River Stays In Banks The possibility that the Grey river might overflow its banks kept Greymouth residents on the alert yesterday after a night of torrential rain. Although water gurgled up through sumps and cellars in the town, blocking off some streets and lapping shop doorways when the tide reached its peak at about 3 p.m., an easing of the rain in the back country relieved the position and no serious damage was done.

It was a worrying time for a depleted staff of the Ministry of Works who received continual reports of wrecked bridges, slips and washed out roads. An 80ft gap was torn in the road at Mirror creek between Rimu and Ross and two spans of the Tatare bridge were swept away in the South Westland highway. Four feet of water lay across the road near Turiwhate on the Otira road and a similar volume blocked traffic less than a mile west of Stillwater. In the Grey valley farmers experienced the worst flooding for 18 years. Thousands of acres of l*nd were covered with swirling, dirty water but no stock was reported lost..