BRIDGE DAMAGED AGAIN IN RAIN

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31656, 17 April 1968, Page 22

BRIDGE DAMAGED AGAIN IN RAIN

(From Our Own Reporter)

GREYMOUTH, April 16.

Damage to road and railway links on the West Coast was relatively light after the Greymouth district had almost two inches of rain and hail on Monday night.

The Stillwater-Reefton section of the railway remains closed.

At the railway bridge at Ahaura, filling which had been replaced around the piles and washed away in last week’s flood was damaged, but the extent cannot be assessed until the river level falls. Paddocks round the bridge were said to be a quagmire and trucks were unable to move in them.

Slips on the Cobden Hill recurred and the GreymouthDunollie railway line was closed for a short time this morning. Damage was light. The Railways Department reported that no other lines were affected. The back road to Taylorville, damaged in last week’s flood, suffered further damage when a slip partially covered the road about a mile from the township. The road was not closed and the slip was cleared by Brunner Borough Council workmen. Criticism of the recurring

floods caused by Sawyers Creek in Greymouth was made by residents in the Marlborough Street, Marsden Road and Sinnott Road areas.

However, the engineer to the Westland Catchment Board (Mr H. E. Clarke) said today that the problem was top priority and an estimate of cost on an amended control plan was at present being prepared for the Greymouth Borough Council. He said he had no idea when the scheme would be implemented—it depended on the borough council finding its share of the cost.