Power Failures, But Little Damage

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31983, 9 May 1969, Page 1

Power Failures, But Little Damage

Strong south-westerly winds which had swept Canterbury since Tuesday evening, reaching speeds of up to 60 miles an hour in Christchurch and 86 miles an hour on the Kaikoura coast, had abated last evening.

No major damage was reported but power failures were caused on Banks Peninsula, at New Brighton, Halswell and near Oxford.

The wind dropped after 1 about 4 p.m. yesterday and ■ by late evening only a light j south-westerly was blowing. ] The rainfall at Christ-i church Airport from Tuesday 1 evening to 6 p.m. yesterday 1 was 71 points. The total for 1 the year to 9 a.m. yesterday, however, is still well down ' on last year’s figure for the same period—SJfiin compared with 14.45 in. Snow fell to about 1400 ft in the high country behind Oxford but at Arthur’s Pass the weather was fine yesterday afternoon and there was only light snow in the Lewis Pass area. SEAS OVER ROAD Strong southerly winds with gusts up to 86 miles an

hour lashed Kaikoura early yesterday morning. High seas . swept the coast and at Rakau- ; tara, 12 miles north of Kaikoura, the sea broke over the , main road and in some places the edge of the road was ! undermined, causing telegraph poles to lean. Ministry of Works staff were kept busy grading seaweed, rocks and debris from the road. At South Bay a 12ft dinghy was picked up : by the wind, blown across the beach and smashed. At Motunau beach winds were close to the strength of the Wahine storm, said a local fisherman, Mr E. C. Williams. “It was a real old man southerly—at least 50 knots. Damage in the settlement was only superficial—an odd sheet. of iron or barge board blown off.” In Christchurch, the strongest gust of 60 miles an hour was recorded at 10.10 p.m., on Wednesday evening, the Meteorological Office at Christchurch Airport re-1 ported. From midnight the wind 1 was mainly from the southwest at an average of 35 miles an hour, but with gusts up to 53 miles an hour at 1 am. and 57 miles an hour at 6 a.m. The temperature dropped to 41 degrees at 10 p.m. on Wednesday and stayed there until noon yesterday, when it began to rise slowly reaching 49 degrees soon after 4 p.m. POWERCUTS At 12.15 am. the power was eut to about 1000 homes in New Brighton when a branch fell on an 11,000 volt line outside the Palmers Road substation, said the chief engineer of the Municipal Electricity Department (Mr W. G. Johnstone). The supply was restored at 2.5 a.m. Power to about 900 houses in Halswell was cut at 3.45 am. when a branch fell on an 11.000 volt line in Quaifes Road and the supply was restored at 530 a.m. At 1038 am. yesterday the supply to about 900 homes in St Andrews Hill-Mount Pleasant failed but it was restored

within an hour. The cause i was not known. Telephone services escaped lightly. Communica- i tions with Akaroa, Little j River and Duvauchellea were lost about 10 p.m. on Wednesday, but were restored during the night. Contact with Duvauchefies was lost again in the morning when the wind blew some fines together but was restored by 10.30 am. About 20 subscribers southeast of Oxford were without telephones for about 12 hours yesterday, said the Postmaster (Mr K. W. Eustace). In the city two dr three poles were blown out of line or broken, and there were a few broken wires. Banks Peninsula was without electricity as well as without telephones for part of Wednesday night and yesterday morning. The main 33,000 volt supply to the Peninsula area failed at 11 p.m. when the wind twisted wires together. Repair crews restored the supply about 430 a.m. The Central Canterbury Electric Power Board also reported a few faults in Ellesmere County, most of them on small spur lines. A fault in the Paparua area cut power to about 100 consumers at 8 a.m. yesterday, and the supply was restored by 10 a.m. The failure was eventually traced to an insulator which had cracked and let in water. Falling trees brought down power lines at Broadfields, Tai Tapu, and Sandy Knolls, but all services were back to normal by noon. FLIGHTS DELAYED i National Airways Corpora- ; Hon flights through Christ--1 church were up to two hours • behind schedule for most of ■ yesterday because Welling- ’ ton Airport was closed by ■ strong winds until last even- ‘ ing. The first Boeing 737 flight !to Wellington circled and ’ then returned to Christ--1 church. Boeing 737 flights 1 flew to Auckland direct. Vis- ■ counts were used to PalmerI ston North and Friendships , to Paraparaumu. Because of the cancellation * of flights to and from Wel--1 lington passengers involved I wfire booked on later flights.