Report wanted on Wellington floods

Press, 22 December 1976, Page 3

Report wanted on Wellington floods

FA Wellington i The Water and Soil Con-i nervation Authority will call I for a report from rhe Wei-! hngtcn Regional Water Board on Monday’s floods. Both bodies believe the; report could have widespread rmp.ications over future’ building and development bylaws and the role of the; Water Board. I he assistant commissioner! of works in charge of soil! ■ nd water conservation, Mr' .A W. Gibson, said yesterdav the report would establish whether Monday’s flood was an extraordinary event, or whether it could recur with sufficient frequency to justify amending present buildings and developmental standards. A spokesman for the Water Board said the board might have to alter its longterm priorities. The spokesman said there would have to be intense studies of the hydrology and other aspects of not only the Hutt River, but other areas in the board’s region. Mr Gibson said that a flood 1 like that on Monday couldi sirike anywhere in New Zealand at any time. “We are susceptible to sudden storms coming in from ! the sea,” he said. The police continued anti- i looting patrols in Welling-] ton and the Hutt \alley last' night. Reinforcements flown in i f r om Auckland, Rotorua, Hamilton, and Palmerston North helped man the extra' patrols needed to watch insecure or wrecked houses , and factories. About 50 men were brought in, and most will return home today. The Wellington Police District Commander, Chief Superintendent E. J. Trappitt, said the extra patrols had discovered no looting, and peonle had behaved very well. The damage to houses during Monday’s emergency was not an act of God but a .esuit of poor subdivision of land, the director of the Standards Association of New Zealand (Mr Denys Pinfold) said yesterday. Mr Pinfold anti the association’s senioi technical adviser. Mr B. Cashin, said that the houses should have | stood up to the heavv rain-! tf.II. Land should have been I

developed in such a way that the water could run off without causing houses to slip, thev said.

Mr Cashin said safety standards adopted by most

local bodies in the last three years should prevent similar damage in new subdivisions. However, people in houses up to 30 years old might still have problems if the land they had built on had not been properly subdivided. It seems likely that commercial property 7 owners will get a better insurance deal after the floods than most private homeowners.

Most commercial property owners do not carry insurance against floods or water damage, but such cover is now prevalent in householders’ policies. Thus, householders will have paid premiums to commercial insurance companies for the money they will claim for damage from the floods, while uninsured commercial concerns will be paid from Earthquake and War Damage Commission funds. The commission mentioned this anomaly in its last [annual report, presented to [ Parliament in July 7 this vear. 1 In Petone. hundreds of prescription pills are believed to [be lying in the streets. About 850,000 worth of medicines and pills were damaged when flood waters burst into the Pharmaceutical company of Parke-Da vis, and many of them were washed [into nearby streets. | Parke-Davns staff and the police scoured the area yesterday looking for the drugs, and gathered four rubbish sacks full. However, there may still be many pills lying in the area. Although no narcotics are missing, the pills may be dangerous. In Lower Hutt, hospital stores worth nearly $400,000 were damaged during the flooding. Officers of the Wellington Hospital Board spent yesterday sorting through waterdamaged stock, checking damage in the board’s main bulk store. Emergency 7 equipment appeared to have escaped damage. the board’s director of regional services, Mr R. A. (McDonald, said. All main roads out of Wellington were open last evenling. and traffic cleared fairly

Iquickly. according to the Ministry of Transport. [ A Ministry spokesman said (the Ngaio Gorge road was ■the only 7 major road in Wel--1 lington still closed.

Some congestion had been caused throughout the day because motorists had insisted on taking the roads that bad suffered most damage to see the effects of the flood, the spokesman said. The only other problem had been drivers’ unwillingness to observe wanting and “road closed” signs. At the height of the flooding some drivers had driven their cars into water and then called for help.