Months Of Work Needed To Repair Storm Damage

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31661, 23 April 1968, Page 1

Months Of Work Needed To Repair Storm Damage

Many months of work would be needed to repair the damage caused at Lyttelton by the recent storm, the Mayor (Mr J. B. Collett) reported to the Lyttelton Borough Council last evening.

Repairs would cost the council a large amount, and this would affect the budget for the coming year, said Mr Collett.

Although Lyttelton had largely escaped flooding it had suffered more costly damage in slips, walls down, roads damaged and numerous trees blown over.

Mr Collett’s report included a detailed survey of damage. Hawkhurst Road was gouged out in many places and considerable reconstruction would be needed. There had been slips on the Sumner road and walls had collapsed. In St Davids Street, a 3ft stormwater drain had collapsed for 70ft, there had been slips in many other streets, and at Diamond Harbour many trees were down and a water main had been broken.

Falling trees, slips and flying debris had done serious damage to the borough electrical system. Power had been off to a large area above Sumner Road for more than 30 hours after a falling tree carried away main high and low-tension cables.

Many buildings and houses had been damaged and claims had been passed on to the Earthquake and War Damage Commission. Mr Collett paid a tribute to the council staff, some of whom were out between 1

a.m. and 7 a m. on the Thursday and Friday and all of whom worked continuously during the holiday period. A sub-committee comprising Crs N. D. Walker, N. D. Parratt, R. H. Duff and J. L. Baines was set up to deal with letters on storm damage, with power to act in urgent cases. The council received several letters from residents on storm damage. They were referred to the special committee. CITY DAMAGE Although considerable damage was done to the roofs of new houses on Cannon Hill, in very few cases was there evidence of faulty workmanship, said Mr P. G. Secular, the City Engineer, in a report to the City Council last evening. “It seems evident that some manufacturers’ specifications and standard by-law acceptance standards must be reconsidered,” he said, “and probably upgraded for roofing in hilly areas. It is understood that this problem has also occurred in Wellington.” Mr Scoular said the hill formation apparently tended to channel the wind into certain areas, and, in effect, to aim blasts at particular houses. He attributed the disastrous effect on flat or nearly flat roofs with long run cladding to the greater suction on a flat roof than on a sloping roof. “In nearly every case roofs were constructed to acceptable by-law standards and, in addition, were strengthened

by the addition of wire ties from roof to wall framing,” said Mr Scoular. “This has been a council requirement for many years for houses constructed on hillsides where the wind exposure is greater than normal, and it undoubtedly prevented a greater loss of roofing than occurred." Costs involved to the engineer’s department were not expected to exceed $3OOO. EVERY FIVE YEARS Floods in Christchurch had occurred about every five years, said the report, and it was partly because of the regularity of floods of that size in the lower Heathcote river that the Drainage Board was now making investigations and model studies of the Estuary. “These should lead to

further works designed to provide some measure of relief," said the report. “A cut-off channel in the lower loop of the Heathcote is likely.” Mr H. G. Gilpin, the Director of Reserves, reported destruction of considerable magnitude in the city, Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park. A great number of the city’s oldest trees had been lost.

Mr Gilpin said the Botanic Gardens had suffered most and a number of old and familiar trees would have to be removed. At the Bottle Lake and Chaneys plantations extensive and severe damage had been done. About 360,000 cubic feet of fallen timber would have to be salvaged. The council congratulated its staff for work during and after the storm.