Huge Slip Blocking River Partly Cleared

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29193, 2 May 1960, Page 12

Huge Slip Blocking River Partly Cleared

(New Zealand Press Association)

WAIROA, May 1. Using gelignite and heavy earth-moving machinery, Ministry of Works gangs have managed to clear some of the 500,000 tons of rock and rubble which crashed into the Ohiika gorge on Saturday blocking the RotoruaWairoa State highway.. The slip dammed the 90ft-wide Waikare-Takehe river when a high overhanging bluff fell. • Only part of the slide has been cleared to release the water which had built up behind the dam in the river but it is hoped the river will break through the earth, mud, papa and boulders which is still moving slowly into the river. The highway is open only to those whose journey is absolutely necessary. After the slide, which occurred early on Saturday, Ministry of Works employees rushed explosives to the area and began working around the clock to try to clear the road and the river. The landslide is an aftermath of faults caused in the country by the 1931 earthquake and the recent heavy rain has weakened it further. The slide has been

expected and watched for by engineers for many years.

Practically a whole hillside moved into the river and the district engineer of the Ministry of Works (Mr J. E. C. Pollock) said tonight that it was expected that more slips would occur unless the heavy rain in the area stopped. There is no serious danger to human life but farmers have been warned to move stock from the flats below the point where the river is dammed. AU telephone lines between Wairoa and Waikaremaona were cut and they are not expected to be restored until Monday at the earliest