Peninsula Communications Cut

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31653, 13 April 1968, Page 12

Peninsula Communications Cut

Telecommunications in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula were mauled by the storm on Thursday night and a staff of 800 was on duty all day yesterday trying to restore eervices. The divisional engineer of the Post Office (Mr D. M. McFarlane) believes temporary services will be available throughout Christchurch tomorrow. At 11 a.m. yesterday the service to 4000 subscribers in Christchurch had to be renewed because water had seeped into cables. There

were a further 1200 line faults in the city. The damage was worst at New Brighton. The junction cable connecting the suburb to the rest of Christchurch was cut and was out of action until midday. The Post Office set up a radio vehicle at the New Brighton exchange and advised subscribers at New Brighton to ring the local police if they wanted emergency services. Forty street fire alarm boxes were out of order in Christchurch but most were repaired by last night. Toll circuits were back in service yesterday. The situation at Banks Peninsula was bad on Thurs-

day night. There were no communications with the exchanges at Little River, Duvauchelle, Akaroa, Pigeon Bay, Little Akaloa, Okains Bay, and Le Bons Bay. Just before midnight an Army vehicle got through the flooded highway at Little River and took an Amateur Radio Emergency Corps team to Duvauchelle where they provided a telegraph service between Christchurch and the peninsula for emergency calls.

Mr McFarlane said the Post Office deeply appreciated the services of the Army and amateur radio operators in restoring communications.