Blenheim surveys flood damage

Press, 12 April 1980, Page 3

Blenheim surveys flood damage

PA Blenheim Blenheim insurance offices geared up yesterday to deal with the several hundred claims expected in the wake of flooding on Thursday. Insurance - company spokesmen believe the flooding will cost Marlborough several hundreds of themsands of dollars. The Automobile Association (Canterbury) said yesterday that State highway 72 from Mount Hutt to Mt Somers, State Highway 70 (the inland Kaikoura road), and State highway 1, had been reopened to traffic after having been blocked by surface flooding and slips.-

Most of the flooding occurred round Blenheim, Picton and on the lower Wairau plains. Kaikoura, usually the first to suffer when bad weather strikes Marlborough, escaped unscathed. In Blenheim water entered several houses, which were drying out yesterday. Gardens and streets were still covered by mud and debris. In Wairarapa five families who had been moved returned to their homes yesterday as water started to recede from big areas of flooded farmland. The five families had been moved to neighbour’s homes on higher ground at

Pukio, after the declaration of a flood emergency south of Martinborough at 10.40 p.m. on Thursday. The Ruamahanga, Whangaehu, Taueru, and Kopuaranga rivers slowly receded as the rain eased to showeFMore than 144 mm of rain fell in southern Hawke’s Bay in 48 hours, leaving several country roads closed and the Manawatu Gorge blocked by a big slip. The main highway south of Dannevirke was threatened when rising waters from the Tamaki River sucked metal away from a bridge approach. The highway was reduced to one lane.