Nurses carried on

Press, 5 July 1977, Page 1

Nurses carried on

The Nurse Maude Assoc* iation and Red Cross were not deterred from continuing their normal services, albeit on a reduced scale. About 30 staff could not report for duty but the remaining staff did their best to visit as many as they could of their patients.

In spite of the conditions, some Nurse Maude staff who normally visit their patients by bicycle continued to do so yesterday. Nurses sometimes had to don waders to get to the homes of patients isolated by flooded streets. A utility vehicle was used by the North Canterbury Red Cross for its meals-on-wheels service, which was slowed down but not disrupted by the flooding. About 8000 Christchurch subscribers were without telephone links yesterdav because of water or wind damage. j . The faults occurred in

scattered parts of Christchurch and were caused mainly by water seeping in to underground cables. Post Office workmen were un j able to repair many of the faults because flooding made it impossible to reach the cables.

A spokesman for the Post Office said that it would take several days to clear up the faults. It could take another week to finish the “tail-end” work.

A proposed shut-down of the electricity supply in the South Brighton area today has been postponed to a later date, according to the Municipal Electricity Department. The shut-down was to have been between 1.15 p.m. and 4 p.m., to enable an ll,ooov cable to be commissioned. More than 200 consumers were affected when the electricity supply failed in Clifton Terrace yesterday. A fallen tree and damaged lines put five substations out of action about

4 a.m. and, although the supply was restored briefly, it was switched off again. The supply was finally restored about 4 p.m. Water seeping into a kiosk sub-station in Ashgrove Terrace caused a power failure in the area about 2 p.m. yesterday. Although the sub-station had not been repaired by late yesterday afternoon, the supply was restored about 4 p.m. by switching to another sub-station.

Only first-class mail (letters) was delivered. In some areas staff were unable to penetrate the flood. The Post Office reported heavy flooding in Innes Road, Philpotts Road, Weston Road, Winters Road, St Albans Street, Cranford Street, Hills Road, Westminster Street, Edgeware Road, Wainoni Road, Bower Avenue, Marine Parade, and Bridge Street. There was also heavy flooding in Beckenham and St Martins, with only the Sydenham shopping area

accessible. Rockinghorse Road had sea waves breaking over parts of it during the day and there were some restrictions in Sumner.

The Beckenham shopping centre in lower Colombo Street was inundated by water flowing towards the river from flooded side streets.

Colombo Street itself was closed to traffic for a short time but reopened later in the day. Shops on the western side of the road were worst hit, with many having water more than 15cm deep inside. A landslide on Clifton Hill during the night hit a house below on the Main Road, Redcliffs. Mud poured in through a rear window, although the stone walls of the house stood up to the tonnes of debris pressing in on it. The slip carried away a large part of Mulgans Track — an important accessway for residents on the hill.