Strong winds recall the 1975 gale

Press, 27 November 1982, Page 1

Strong winds recall the 1975 gale

North Canterbury and Kaikoura residents were repairing roofs and cleaning up yesterday, after a night of westerly winds which almost rivalled’ in strength the big gale of August 1, 1975.

The wind was furious enough to hurl stones through the windows of three parked Mount Hutt Ski Company vehicles. Kaikoura was without power from early yesterday morning until 3.10 p.m. yesterday, and Cheviot until 1.30 p.m. Schools at Cheviot and Amuri were closed for the day after their water supplies failed. Such was the force of the wind that a big removal van was flipped on to its side on the main road north of Kaikoura. A house in Kaikoura lost its roof, and many farm buildings in the Cheviot area were blown over or damaged. As with the 1975 gale, which devastated Canterbury, the wind reached its peak in the middle of the night. A gust of 110 knots (205km/h) at Mount Hutt was probably the strongest recorded in New Zealand in

recent times, according to the Weather Office. More than 50 firemen and volunteers fought for 10 hours to control a blaze which spread over 150 ha. of farmland, 10km south of Kaikoura. The fire started at 12.15 a.m. when embers on pine logs and stumps, last seen burning six weeks, ago. were fanned to life again by high winds. ' I The Chief Fire Officer at Kaikoura. Mr G. Elson, said the wind gusted up to 160km/h,. which caused the fire to jump from hedge to hedge; burning the grassland and shelter belts. A hayshed holding about 800 bales, and an implement shed, which housed a farm trailer and a drill, w’ere destroyed in the blaze. Other haysheds were threatened, as were three farmhouses. The fire was under control last evening, in spite of winds which had risen again to 45 knots. The Kaikoura brigade also had to fight a fire which came within metres ,of Mr and Mrs T. Hislop’s farm, north of the township. Sparks from this fire set off other fires, and at one stage the brigade was fighting five fires in the neighbourhood. A hayshed containing .4000 bales was destroyed by fire on Mr Vincent Daly’s farm in Campbells 'Road, near Cheviot, at the height of the gale. • ' Fire which had been burning in a pile of logs and stumps for about five months started the hayshed blaze. An implement shed also - caught fire, but Mr Daly saved a tractor, baler, and other machinery with the'help of the Cheviot policeman,. Constable Kirk Newman.. On neighbouring ' farms,paddocks, of cqt hay" were stripped clean and the hay piled against fences. A Cheviot woman said that her husband had to. tie down their house roof to prevent its being blown away, after a sheet of iron was torn off. “The wind picked me up and threw me against the side of the house — and I’m not small,” the woman said. ./; She said a neighbouring couple had left their house after their french doors blew in, showering glass over their bed. “I'don’t think many people got much sleep,” she said. About 4000 , subscribers, from the Omihi Valley to Kaikoura, were without power from the. early hours of the morning. Winds in the area reached, 80 knots and power poles fell just south of Kaikoura.

About 2 a.m. yesterday, the roof of the Mount Alexander microwave station, near Waikari, blew off. There was no damage to the lines; an alarm was set off. and electricians went to the site immediately and made repairs. About 200 subscribers in North Canterbury were affected by broken telephone lines, said the senior division engineer of the Post Office .works and services department, Mr W. B. Tenkley. Men were working until nightfall to restore the many lost toll circuits. Subscribers in several exchanges could expect to wait until late today before their telephones were reconnected, he said. State highway 1 just north of Kaikoura was partly blocked early yesterday morning when the furniture removal truck was overturned by the wind. It was travelling about 50km/h, and extensive . damage was caused to the side panels. The driver escaped unhurt. ' Other parts of the highway were blocked by, falling trees between Cheviot and the .Clarence ' bridge, but they had been/cleared by yesterday afternoon. High winds in Wellington caused the ■ cancellation of three flights from Christchurch yesterday. One flight from Auckland to Christchurch via Wellington had to ‘ fly direct to Christchurch. Mount Cook Line aircraft were not • able to fly into Twizel on Thursday. The nearest they could get to Mount Cook was the Pukaki airport. One Hawker Siddeley landed at the Mount Cook airport during a lull in the gale to drop emergency supplies and equipment for the rescue of two stranded climbers? Farmers were warned yesterday afternoon to move stock from the upper Waimakariri River flats, after heavy rain fell in the high country. The river level was up, by more than two metres in the Waimakariri Gorge, according to the North Canterbury Catchment Board. Rain was falling in" the Waimakariri catchment area at a rate of 15mm (half an inch) an hour, the board said. The river has been running high for several days as Westerly = gales continue to blow across the Main Divide, but there had been no report of serious flooding by last evening. ' The Meteorological Office in Christchurch said that 165 mm (6.5 in of rain had been recorded at Arthur’s Pass in the 24 hours to 9 a.m. yesterday.