FIRST CONTACT WITH PORT LEVY RESIDENTS

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31654, 15 April 1968, Page 1

FIRST CONTACT WITH PORT LEVY RESIDENTS

For the first time since the storm broke over Banks Peninsula on Wednesday night, contact has been made with Port Levy residents.

The roads were washed out and all telephone communication was lost. The Post Office attempted to make contact on Friday and Saturday but it was not made until 4 p.m. yesterday after a party of Post Office linemen and a member of the Amateur Radio Emergency Corps (Mr G. Bradshaw) went by launch to Port Levy.

A Post Office technician said last evening that at least one house had been destroyed in the storm, but stock losses were light. The area is without power although it was restored for two hours yesterday afternoon. The party radioed back and began working trying to restore lines, the divisional engineer of the Christchurch post office (Mr D. M. McFarlane) said last evening. They travelled round the area in a Gnat vehicle because the roads were impassable for other vehicles. Later the road from Diamond Harbour to Port Levy was cleared for four-wheel drive vehicles and a Post Office vehicle went there. Some private messages were sent out from residents but telephone communica tions had not. been re-estab-lished last night.

Mr McFarlane said that the storm was one of the worst for the Post Office that had been experienced. At the peak of the faults on Good Friday between 4500 and 5000 subscribers were without telephones in the Christchurch area.

UNDER CONTROL The situation was generally under control now, he said, and from Clarence Bridge, north of Kaikoura, to Hinds, there were only 100 subscribers without telephone communication. Most were at Little River where 40 telephones, including the 23 in Port Levy, were out.

In Christchurch alone there were 100 cable faults which involved about 3000 subscribers, and 1500 line faults, he said. There were more cable faults to come as the water seeped through cables. Today, as many as possible of the maintenance staff will have their first break of the Easter holidays. MOPPING UP Mopping up continued in Sumner, South Brighton, and Heathcote yesterday as Christchurch Drainage Board workmen cleared stormwater channels, and households cleared silt and debris from houses and gardens.

About 7.30 p.m. yesterday the Heathcote River overflowed again on to the road at Clarendon Terrace where there was severe flooding earlier. Police inspected the area .and the City Council traffic department was asked to close the road if there was any danger but this was not necessary.

Water is still lying in pools up to Bin deep on Rockinghorse Road, South Brighton, but the effects of high tides and torrential rain have been cleared out of flooded houses. Rockinghorse Road has no stormwater channels so water is likely to lie for some time. It is passable to cars. The water has subsided in Sumner. The main drain had worked at capacity during the flooding, the chief engineer of the Christchurch Drainage Board (Mr P. J. McWilliam) said last evening. The board was investigating possible improvements to make more outlets to the sea. Linemen worked in the area yesterday repairing telephone faults and all power to the area has been restored. Mr McWilliam said that men had been working on al bad blockage in Roberta Drive, off Barrington Street?

There was still surface water lying and pumps had to be used to clear the road. Work has continued in the Mount Pleasant area and upstream from the Opawa Railway Bridge where workmen have removed trees and logs from the river. “MONA VALE” HIT “Mona Vale” was also damaged, and water in the mill race broke through the banks and by-passed the Avon River, gouging out an area 20ft square. Mr McWilliam said the workmen raised the stock gates at a weir just past a fork in the river to bring the water under control but the main flow of the water was going down the mill race, he said. Several trees are down in the property and there are many branches off. New Brighton shops were rushed on Saturday after the storm and cleaning equipment sales soared. Buckets, mops, brooms and gumboots were sold quickly and there was even a demand for electric blankets and hot-water bottles.

One shop manager, Mr B. D. Hopper, said the volume of business in the afternoon was three times that of normal Saturday trading. Staff of the City Council’s

Reserves Department worked throughout Saturday and yesterday morning clearing trees from the river in the Botanic Gardens. The Director of Reserves (Mr H. G. Gilpin) said the gardens were closed on Saturday and yesterday because of the danger of falling branches. Many had worked from 7.30 a.m. on Saturday and to noon yesterday clearing the fallen trees from the Avon River round the Botanic Gardens.

s “No work has been done : on the trees in the gardens, i They are a real mess," Mr : Gilpin said. “While we were s working a branch fell off one > of the trees in the gardens.” > The Botanic Gardens will be closed again today and the i workmen will have their first i full day’s rest since the storm began. Clearing work for all parks and reserves would take months to complete, Mr Gilpin said. FUND CLAIMS The City Council Office will open tomorrow morning to deal with inquiries --about claims to the Earthquake and War Damage Fund. ,The Town Clerk (Mr M. B. Hayes) said yesterday that the council had offered to help the commission to clear the inquiries and applications. On Thursday 220 inquiries were made and the custodian of the council offices had 133 telephone calls on Good Friday about claims, Mr Hayes said. Those with fire insurance only should apply to the commission, he said, but those with comprehensive policies should take their inquiries to their own insurance companies. County councils are also taking applications on behalf of the commission. * Civil Defence authorities and the Chief Superintendent of Police (Mr G. S. Austing) will meet in the Council Chambers tomorrow morning when Mr Austing will report on the rescue work.