RIVER PROTECTION AT OTIRA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28479, 8 January 1958, Page 10

RIVER PROTECTION AT OTIRA

Township Not To Be Moved

The railway settlement at Otira, the residents of which had a terrifying experience on the morning of December 27 when the Otira river swept through the village, is unlikely to be removed to Jacksons, or some other point further down the valley.

Temporary measures for the protection of the village by way of alarm signals, auxiliary power supply for lighting and diversion of the river are being undertaken. The long-term scheme being prepared is to give the maximum protection possible to Otira.

The major scheme involves the building of permanent and new stopbanks to keep the waters of the Otira river away from the railway yards and the village, which were close to a disaster in the early hours of December 27. The space which will be required for the protection works indicates that the electricity sub-station will have to be moved to another site.

Any suggestion that the railway workers will refuse to continue work unless the settlement is shifted was denied yesterday, when the Minister of Railways (Mr M. Moohan), the General Manager of Railways (Mr A. T. Gandell), the general manager of the State Hydro-electric Department (Mr A. E. Davenport), the chief civil engineer of the Railways (Mr C. Clark), Mr J. B. Main (president of the A.S.R.S.) and other officials made a special visit to Otira. The official party inspected the restoration work on nine chains of the railway line near the Otira portal of the tunnel, and the damage in the township. The officials also met the construction and railway workers. Families Returning Families are already trickling back to Otira after their hurried evacuation. Railway carriages have been placed on a siding near the railway station to shelter residents should flood water again sweep down the valley, and warning systems of possible danger are being installed. A huge shingle and rock slide straight down a mountainside and fanning out across the bed of the Otira river caused the night of near-terror at Otira. The river was swept across to the stop bank above the power sub-station. The bank was breached and the river flowed down the railway line and the main street. The scouring was deep, at least two feet in the street, before the rampaging river on the line swung across the tennis courts at the social hall and met the street flow.

Temporary alarm signals will be installed within the next fortnight. Switches will work an audible alarm on the stop banks should the slip begin to move again more quickly than it is now moving. A searchlight will be installed in the area and the railwaymen have arranged regular patrols. An auxiliary lighting plant is being assembled and when it is installed it will cut in immediately to light the streets and railway station if the main power system fails. Light emergency bridging will also be provided. “These protective measures are intended as a temporary safeguard only, pending the completion of investigation by the department’s engineers into the practicability of providing permanent protective works,” the Minister told a deputation of railwaymen. Rail Protection

The Ministerial visit had a heartening effect on the railway workers, who assured the Minister of their utmost co-operation in completing the repair work and opening the line with the least possible delay. But no hope of the shifting of the railway village was held out by the Minister. The reason was that any permanent protective work will not only make safe the railway line but will also protect the village itself. A number of years ago, a stop bank was run out from the stone bank parallel to the railway line across the Otira river bed. causing the river to be diverted to the mountain side. When the slip began the river, swollen by exceptional rains, was switched back to a confined area. The break through was the result. The damage at Otira from the flood was on a major scale, and the first family returned nine days after all women and children were evacuated. The concern of the residents has been most keenlv appreciated by the Minister and officials.

“Nobody here refused to work nor was there any suggestion of refusing work,” a railwayman told the official party yesterday •The only suggestion was that in the event of the line reopening and a flood beginning we would go home to our wives and children.”

The suggestion had not come from him, said Mr Gandell. He knew no suggestion had been made that the railwaymen would refuse to work.

Men Pick up Shovels Engine drivers and firemen stationed at Otira have become cooks and guards and clerks have picked up shovels to help with the repair work. That was typical of the railway spirit, said Mr Main, who told the men that the four official organisations—the A.S.R.S., Railway Officers’ Institute. E.F.C.A., and Railway Tradesmen’s Association—which he represented were right behind them in every move to improve conditions at Otira.

When the Otira river, in high spate, swept across the flooded Rolleston river at their junction near the Otira portal of the tunnel. the Rolleston river was car ried against the high railway embankment nine chains ot which were swept away. About 35.000 yards of material will have to be placed in the huge gap caused by the wash-out. Mr Gandell made his first inspection on Saturday, returned to Wellington and was amazed yesterday ati

the progress of the reconstruction. “The amount of work done in a week is highly commendable,’’ he said.

Heavy earth moving machinery is at work. The Otira river has been bulldozed back to its old course and bulldozers are piling up material to fill the gap. Carryalls are also picking up material which was hewn by men and wheeled out in barrows when the tunnel was constructed to build the new line. Outsize Wash-out Fewer bigger wash-outs have taken place on the railway system of New Zealand, yet the confident expectation is that the Midland line will be reopened within a fortnight. The special rail-car which took the Minister of Railways and officials from Christchurch ran to the wash-out. Alter wallung across the gap, they mounted jiggers for the run down the valley to Otira. The mountain slip which caused the breaching of the stopbank below the Goat creek bridge and inundated the township is still moving. A stream is flowing underneath it down the precipitous mountain ravine. The slip, engineers consider, will continue to move. But as the toe of stones has levelled out, no sudden movement is anticipated. Rising River Bed

The safeguarding of the railway line and the village of Otira is a big engineering undertaking. The bed of the Otira river has been building up steadily and quickly and now the station and the homes are below the bed of the river.

A higher, stronger and more comprehensive stopbank from Goat creek downstream is the big work ahead. Surveyors on Monday found the marks giving the level of the Otira river bed ; in 1936 and it will be vital i information when the civil engineers design the stopbank. The plan is to not only keep the 'river away from the railway and the settlement for all time, if possible, but to give the river more room in which to move. That plan makes the shifting of the power sub-station of the State Hydro-electric Department inevitable. One suggested site which Mr Davenport and the District Electrical Engineer (Mr W. H. Gregory) inspected yesterday was behind the concrete converter station at the Otira end of the tunnel. Other sites will be inspected and it is likely that the new station will be remote-con-trolled. “It was a magnificent achievement by our men to have power restored at Otira five days after the flood,” said Mr Davenport. Trail of Ruin A rough road exists in the main street at Otira. The bitumen and metal were scoured out to two feet deep for most of the street, except near the railway station where the hole was several feet deep. Some gardens are desolate ruins. Ballasting has been rc laced along the tracks through the railway yards which were a raging river bed on the morning of the breakthrough of flood waters. The subways are inches deep with silt and debris. It will be weeks before Otira township is given its normal appearance. Although the scouring was severe, no damage was done to water pipes and sewers under the roadway and the community septic tank in the direct course of the fierce new river also escaped damage. “There is nothing worse than flood water—it is irresistible.” Mr Moohan said to railwaymen, “and I have the greatest admiration for all you have done in repairing the damage in so short a time.”

As a Post and Telegraph Department employee in the King Country, he had experienced slips and washouts and worked on replacing lines, said Mr Moohan. Anything that could be done to prevent a recurrence of the flooding would be done. Workers Praised

“But there is enough stuff on those hills to put the whole show out of action,” said the Minister.

indicating the great shingle slide which had begun the menace to Otira. The flooding was a most unfortunate happening and nobody could tell whether it would not happen again. “In various circles in New Zealand, there are people who talk of the Government stroke and that the Post and Telegraph and Railway employees don’t work and that only those who work for private entreprise work,” said Mr Moohan. “I think that what has been done here proves conclusively that the railwaymen play their part, not only in times of emergency, but the whole year round. The railways belong to the public and a great public spirit has been shown since the disaster. Anything that can be done to alleviate the position will certainly be done.”

Mr L. J. Keyes, resident civil engineer for the Railways Department. is in charge of the reconstruction work. Among other members of the official party to whom he explained the protective measures were Messrs 1 M. Malcolm (assistant chief civil engineer of the Railways). G. R Rushton (District civil engineer at Christchurch). J. A Macdonald •chief engineer of the Westland Catchment Board). J. B. Kent. M.P.. and W. J. Munro (the Min|ister’s private secretary).