Mopping-up goes on

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33929, 23 August 1975, Page 1

Mopping-up goes on

Workmen continued to mop up around Christchurch and Banks Peninsula yesterday as the rain eased, and floodwaters subsided.

By late afternoon most roads were again open. Evans i Pass, and the Summit Road; between the Sign of the' Kiwi and Mount Pleasant, were still closed. The main Akaroa highway! was passable, although up toj one foot of water still; covered parts of the road at; Little River. A spokesman for the Wairewa County Council; said that the entrance to;

» Lake Forsyth had been . opened to drafin the floodwater. The Akaroa County ! Engineer (Mr K. A. Paulin) ■ said that only a few minor back roads were still blocked. :i He said that about half an J inch of sleet and hail fell at [|the Hilltop early in the I morning, but the weather ■had eased to occasional . showers by the afternoon. In the city, the Clifton ■ landslide victims were busy i! clearing tons of rocks and mud from their homes, while Presidents of Clarendon, ■ Avnsley and Richardson : terraces got to work to i clean their flooded homes. ’I The Heathcote County

Council Engineer (Mr R. J. Anderson) thinks it will take at least a fortnight to clean up the mess within its boundaries. He said that a gang of 10 men was mopping-up in the Bowenvale, upper Dyer’s Pass, Mount Pleasant and Centaurus Road areas. The secretary of the Christchurch Insurance Association (Mr D. J. Wilson) said the insurance companies so far received about 10,500 claims worth about $150,000. He said that much of the damage seemed to be the result of temporary or incomplete repairs made after the gale a few weeks ago.