Bad weather hampers work clearing slip

Press, 4 August 1981, Page 2

Bad weather hampers work clearing slip

PA Dunedin Bad weather continues to frustrate the efforts of the Dunedin City Council’s works department to clear a huge earth slip that has blocked a major route into the city. The City Engineer (Mr T. J. Williams) estimates it will cost $20,000 to clear the slip. Replacement of power lines demolished in the slip will be extra, and the cost could rise if road surfaces are damaged. Heavy rain brought down the slip, 100 m by 80m, down on to kaikorai Valley Road on Friday, and mud up to five metres deep corppletely blocked the road.

Since then rain has continued to fall and Mr Williams said bulldozers are getting bogged down in the mud, hampering efforts to clear the slip. "The . weather is completely frustrating us at the moment. We might get the mud cleared by tomorrow at the earliest,” he said. The road will have to be assessed for damage and sluiced down before it can be opened for traffic. No houses were affected by the slip, although power was lost to some for a brief time on Friday night before an emergency link could be established.