Heavy Rain Floods Streets In Hawera

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31031, 11 April 1966, Page 1

Heavy Rain Floods Streets In Hawera

(New Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, April 10. Streets were flooded and the Hawera-Wanganui main highway was closed to traffic for nearly an hour when a cloudburst struck Hawera on Saturday night.

Torrents of water closed the highway just south of the town and some businessmen found water in shops as heavy rain poured along the streets and seeped into several premises. The Hawera Fire Brigade had to pump about four feet of water off the main highway, beneath the overhead rail bridge. The brigade worked until 9.14 p.m. to clear the road.

The brigade was also called to pump about 3Jft of water from a basement at the

Hawera Hospital this morning.

Although many streets in the town, including the main street, were flooded with about a foot of water, there was little damage done. Stock inside the shops affected by the water was recovered undamaged. However, employees of the affected shops spent most of today “mopping up." One shop in High street was awash with about two inches of water during the flooding. A large carpet, which shrunk when lifted to be dried, was the only damage in the shop.

Fears that the cloudburst could bring more floodwaters down the Manawapou river, endangering the temporary Manawapou rail viaduct, were

[ unfounded. The cloudburst appeared confined to Hawera and the Manawapou river level was I hardly raised.