$lm flood damage in New Plymouth

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32541, 26 February 1971, Page 1

$lm flood damage in New Plymouth

(New Zealand Press Associatten) NEW PLYMOUTH, February 25. Flood damage to the central business area of New Plymouth might amount to more than a million dollars. One department store manager estimated his losses to be more than $lOO,OOO.

After 30 hours of torrential rain, rivers and streams flowing through a network of tunnels and culverts under the centre of the city rose beyond all previous recorded levels on Wednesday night.

They caused the worst flood in living memory in the city. Early this morning the rain stopped, leaving a devastated,

mud-strewn area. On Wed- 1 nesday night, when the floodwaters reached their peak, a 1 civil defence emergency was 1 declared and six city blocks ' were evacuated by civil de-' fence staff. The floodwaters receded ’ this morning, leaving behind ' wrecked shops, ruined stocks, I gaping holes in roadways 1 and pavements and hundreds ' of thousands of dollars of 1 damage. The worst hit department store was that of Smith and Brown, Ltd, which faced the brunt of the huge volume of water in the Huatoki River. The store sits over the top of the river, which passes ' through a narrow tunnel : under the store, Devon Street , and another department store before emerging beyond the central shopping area. Mr A. G. Bone, Smith and Brown’s assistant manager, said carpets worth at least $30,000 were ruined by the floodwaters and silt which swept through the store.

Only three carpets out of the firm’s stock were untouched. The company also lost lounge suites worth about $12,000. Seven of the suites were swept out of the building. Some were found in the basements of offices and stores scores of yards iway. “We don’t yet know whether the building is still itructurally sound,” Mr Bone aid. Engineers would inspect he building. At the rear of the store, where the Huatoki goes unierground, a flood marker ns a top mark of 13ft. Mr Sone said that at the peak >f Wednesday night’s flood he water was seven feet ibove this. Other shops The adjoining shops were ilso damaged, though to a esser extent. Silt and debris ittered the floors of Whites, Ltd (drapers) and Hallenstein Srothers, Ltd. In the basenent of Whites, water 12 feet jeep still flowed 12 hours ifter the rain stopped yesterday. Flood protection doors built at the rear of Whites held well during the flood, but the water rose 18 indies above the 6ft 6in doors and broke through into the basement Structural engineers will survey the building, alhough only one floor is slightly buckled. Another department store near the Devon-Brougham Streets intersection, Mc■Cenzies, Ltd, was badly hit by floodwaters from the Mangaotuku Stream, which also winds its way to the sea under the central city area. Flooring was lifted and buckled in several places, and might have to be replaced. Stock losses, however, were light. At the Royal Hotel, which took much of the water flowing from the upper levels of the central shopping area, Mr R. Haskell, the licensee, said about four feet of water covered the ground floor at the peak of the flooding. All the ground floor carpets would have to be replaced, and some liquor was lost, Mr Haskell said. The hotel’s pet goldfish had a risky time. At one point the floodwaters covered their pond by two feet. Hie hotel’s staff had retrieved all the fish by this morning.