Gales, snow block roads, cut power

Press, 19 July 1976, Page 1

Gales, snow block roads, cut power

Gales and snow disrupted North Canterbury power supplies at the week-end, closed the inland Kaikoura road, disrupted television viewing, severed telephone links to the West Coast, and cut off some Banks Peninsula telephones. Graders and a D 6 bulldozer were still battling snowdrifts of up to three metres late yesterday in an attempt to open State Highway 7 (the inland Kaikoura Road), which had been closed for three days. On Saturday the drifts were about two metres deep. More snow fell on Saturday night. Gangs from the Kaikoura County Council and Amuri County Council were still trying to open the road late yesterday but the road will probably not be opened until today. The gangs worked from opposite ends of the highway and hoped to meet. On the Amuri side the snow coating began at Rotherham and got progressively deeper along the route. Graders were finding it virtually impossible to push through the deep drifts. Even using a bulldozer, gangs on the Kaikoura side were able to push only as far as Charwell before having-to retreat on Saturday evening. Amuri gangs got to Red Slip just past the Whalesback. Work resumed at 8 a.m. yesterday on the Amuri side. Some farmers were able to get around using fourwheel drive tractors. The North Canterbury Electric Power Board has had trouble with gale-force winds that have disrupted the supply of electricity to many areas of North Canterbury for brief periods since Thursday. Hurricane-force winds damaged a transmission line to Kaikoura on Thursday morning. The line was 1000 ft above the coast line on top of a hill behind the Kaikoura golf-links. Kaikoura County Council staff and power-board staff repaired the conductors that had been “literally ripned off the poles by the wind,” the general manager of the power board (Mr D. W. Harris) said. Power was restored to a large part of the Kaikoura County after a six-hour

break, just before it got dark. On Friday, heavy snowfalls on the ground above 500 ft in Amuri caused some disruption to power supplies east of Culverden, near Waiau. The main power break was at Hanmer, where power was off for about four hours and a half. About eight inches of fresh snow lay in Hanmer. ■ It was thought that the fault had developed after a car skidded off the road, hitting a stay wire. On Saturday winds gusted up to 50 knots in the Rangiora area, causing some sports to be postponed and some power disruption. About 1.30 p.m. a small branch blew on to the 33,000-volt line to Cust and cut power for a short time west of Fernside. Some damage was also caused at the Southbrook sub-station at the same time, but this was quickly repaired. While the fault on the Cust line was being located, a small twig blew across the road on to a high voltage switch at the corner of Golf Links Road and Woodend Road. Because it was so small, it was difficult to find. It caused a black-out for about one hour east of Rangiora and half-way to Woodend. A tree fell across the road and damaged a highvoltage line on the road between Balcairn and Leithfield. blacking out Sefton,

Balcaim, and Leithfield for an hour. Yesterday morning the power was restored to Mount Alexander, where the Post Office and television have translators. The failure disrupted Television One viewing, but the Post Office had an alternative supply. Parts of the West Coast were still without telephone links yesterday because of line damage caused by high winds and heavy snow on Friday. The acting regional engineer for the Post Office (Mr I. J. Mallett) said that about 40 per cent of the toll circuits to the West Coast went through Murchison and the Wairau Valley, the remainder going through Arthur’s Pass. The northern ones were cut by the snow and wind. Mr Mallet said that repair work had been done all week-end. but all the links would not be working for about another day. Toll circuits to the Hanmer Springs and Waiau area were restored by midday yesterday, and all these toll lines were operating as usual last night. One or two private lines in Waiau and Kaikoura were still not operating. On Banks Peninsula some subscribers were without telephone because the high winds had brought down power lines. The toll line to the Pigeon Bay exchange was cut. but everything was repaired by yesterday.