Flooding In Country Districts Continues

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28889, 8 May 1959, Page 14

Flooding In Country Districts Continues

Although there was little rain in Christchurch yesterday, some country districts were not so fortunate. Heavy rain in the foothills caused most of the rivers to rise considerably and there were also several reports of surface hooding.

A washout caused a blockage on the Mount Somers-Ashburton main highway and there was water to a depth of about 2ft on the RakaiaMethven road. The road from Diamond Harbour was still closed because of a washout and the Christ-church-Akaroa road was kept open only through the constant work of road repair gangs.

Flooding at Little River had receded considerably but the surface water in the Flaxton area near Rangiora was still bad and there were further reports of surface flooding in the Cust and Halswell districts.

Two roads were reported to be blocked in the Ashburton county last evening. They* were the Mount Somers-Ashburton main highway—an approach to a Eailey bridge over Bowyers stream had been washed out—and the RakaiaMethven road by way of Barr Hill, which was flooded at Dry creek, where about 2ft of water was across the road about one mile east of Methven. The Automobile Association had erected detour signs on both sides of this blockage. The MethvenRakaia Gorge road, the Mount Hutt road, and the AshburtonMethven main highway were all carrying a considerable amount of flood water and caution was necessary.

The road on Banks Peninsula from Diamond Harbour was still closed and it was not expected to be opened for a few days. The worst damage was caused by a washout on the Diamond Har-bour-Port Levy road where about a chain had been destroyed. There was also a slip on Purau Hill and another slip at Diamond Harbour damaged the settlement's water supply. Some residents were still without water yesterday morning but the supply was restored during the day 20 Slips

Motorists were advised to exercise care on the ChristchurchAkaroa road between Little River and Barry’s Bay There were at least 20 slips on this section of road and also a lot of scouring. Men worked until dark in pouring rain to keep the road open. A slip of boulders and earth occurred on the Evans Pass road above Battery Point on Wednesday night but the road was partly cleared quickly and the rest of the work was completed yesterday.

Between 150 and 200 acres ol land in the Flaxton basin were under water last night and were expected to remain so for several days. In fine weather the water would probably drain within 10 days.

Last evenmg the Cust mam drain and the north branch oi the Waimakariri river were running higher than the surounding country where water was lying. Surface water and flood water from the main stream caused some areas of farmland in the Cust Valley to be inundated There was a fresh m the Eyre river at Oxford and the Ashley river was in a small flood according to a North Canterbury Catchment Board official There appeared to be no immediate danger of flooding from the Ashley. Heavy rain had fallen in the Selwyn catchment and the river was in medium flood last evening. The river appeared to reach its maximum at the main highway bridge early last evening but was showing signs of

receding, said the chief engineer of the board (Mr H. M. Reid). At Highpeak, near the headwaters of the Selwyn, 4.5 in of rain had been recorded by 9 a.m. yesterday and at Whitecliffs 2.27 in were recorded at the same time. The Halswell river was in medium flood and some of the country in this district was inundated by surface water. This flooding was caused by rain and the rive*.- had not broken its bounds Southern Rivers Widespread rain in the upper catchments of the Opihi and Orari rivers during the 48 hours ended 9 a.m. yesterday had not caused any flooding. With reports of falls of up to 4in for the period in some parts of the catchment. South Canterbury Catchment Board officials were busy yesterday appraising the situation.

An officer of the South Canterbury Catchment Board said last evening that although no difficulty was expected from the rain that had already fallen, further prolonged heavy rain could cause concern as the catchments were now thoroughly saturated. Although constant heavy rain had been falling in most areas in the Ashburton County since about 1.30 p.m. on Tuesday, late last evening there was still no imminent danger of any serious river flooding. In many places there was a great deal of surface water, especially in the Springburn district.

About three miles from the Alford Forest Hall, the road was almost covered with water, but it was not deep enough yesterday to cause any inconvenience to motorists.