Storm lashes Chch

Press, 3 January 1980, Page 1

Storm lashes Chch

, Wind gusts to 52 knots and driving rain battered Christchurch last evening bringing down. tree branches and power poles, and smashing panes of glass. ;

Power was cut to consumers in New Brighton, Hoon Hay, North Waimari, and Halswell late last evening.

The Municipal Electricity Department’s chief engineer (Mr W. G. Johnstone) said engineers and linemen were trying to sort out the faults that had caused the blackouts. There was still some confusion as to their cause. The winds wreaked havoc in the Heathcote Valley and Horotane Valley. Horotane Valley Road ■at midnight was littered with wind-blown apricots and plums, branches of trees, and broken panes

from nearby glasshouses.

In Port Hills Road a toppled large willow tree lay half-way across the. road. The road was also littered with bales of hay and the remains of a hay shed of a property further up the hill. Other roads were closed by fallen trees and poles. One of the worst affected was Durham Street by Chester Street where a tree had fallen and power wires were entangled in it. Work on clearing it was continuing at 12.30 a.m. Another road still closed by a fallen tree after midnight was Ashgrove Terrace. A fallen tree blocked Travis Road, Burwood.

Blenheim Road was closed for a time by a fallen power pole near Wharenui Road. Another pole fell on the Curletts Road overhead bridge.

Power wires were wrapped around the railway barrier arms on Annex Road. : Sergeant Dellow said floodwater had apparently activated the arms, ..and when they rose again the wind had blown the wires around them.

Several gangs of Drainage Board workmen were out trying to clear blocked drains which caused flooding in a number of streets in the city. Water was coming down the gutters in Dyers Pass Road at such a rate that there was a permanent standing column of water more than a metre high, said a Cashmere resident.

Water began . to. breach the banks' of the upper Heathcote River just after 1.15 'a.m. / . . i

Dudley Creek,,St Albans, was also rising early; this morning. ■'.> .i.' ; -; .

The roof was blown off a house in West Melton." Roof iron started to lift off a house in Spreydon, and part of a. house roof in 'Marine Parade was damaged by • wind gusts. • >' • A tree ■ fell on a caravan at Rawhiti Domain, -North Bech, but the dccupnts Were: not- seriously injured. The; high 'winds and. surface flooding kept the' Min; istry of Transport: . busy most of the night. Staff, who should . hav e . finished duty at midnight were kept on. and off-duty staff were called in. Senior Traffic Sergeant R. J. DeHow said his men were “absolutely flat lack" ?.U over Christchurch attending to trouble ■ spots. Many were onlv of‘ “nuisance value,” with branches or large pools of water creating dangers. ■ A request to speak to the operations’, senior-sergeant at the Central: Police Station earlv.this morning got a brief but polite response. ■

“He; is sorry that he can’t come to the phone—the. place is a madhouse,” said the telephone operator.

“He will speak' to you in a

couple of hours.” - * The south-westerly wind lashing the city . averaged 36 knots. Between 6 .p.m.

and midnight 67mm of rain, fell at’ Christchtirch Airport. . , >•'

. The weather .'/was . expected to improve from early, morning, ■ breaking into more showers later in . the . day. •’ The St John Ambulance reported only two accidents — both non-injury. A tree blew across a car occupied by two persons in Wrights Road, Addington, smashing the windscreen and denting the bonnet. '" - Traffic was light after 11 p.m., said Sergeant Dellow. People had “got the message” by then and were staying off the. roads. No serious accidents had been reported by- 12.30 a.m. The Fire Service-was too busy, attending to fire alarms that had been triggered by the wind and the rain to answer calls for help in Dumping water from buildings. " ' Early this morning the Red Cross was placed on stand-by as the weather worsened. • ’ K.