Otago mops up after floods

Press, 28 August 1978, Page 1

Otago mops up after floods

PA Dunedin Otago began mopping up at the week-end as floodwaters receded after several days of storms. The chief engineer of the Otago Catchment Board (Mr H. Semke) said the Taieri River was dropping but much of the Taieri Plains was still under water. Floodwaters covered about 250 hectares at Berwick Flats and the Henley to Berwick road was still covered by about a metre of water, Mr Semke said.

Al! main highways were reopened in Otago on Saturday. Floodwaters cut State highway one at Milton and Pukeuri, and State highwav eight at Waitahuna on Friday.

A line of about 400 cars built up on the south side of the flooding at Pukeuri while travellers waited for water to recede. All motels and hotels in Oamaru were fully booked on Friday night and the Oamaru police arranged

for 75 people to be put up in the Waitaki Boys’ High School hostel.

Those stranded were mainly families travelling during the school holidays or rugby fans going north for the test match at Christchurch. The Main Trunk line at Allanton, about 20km south of Dunedin, was still closed yesterday by flooding. The Central Otago line is not expected to reopen until tomorrow at the earliest because of numerous slips and washouts. A slip which caused a train derailment near Sawyers Bay, north of Dunedin, on Friday afternoon was cleared by late Saturday afternoon. The locomotive of a passenger train left the track when it hit the slip but none of the train crew or 13 passengers were injured.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture said stock losses were not hea\y because the lambing season was not yet in full swing.