Curfew as flood grips Coast

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 1

Curfew as flood grips Coast

By

PAT TAYLOR

and

NEIL CLARKSON

The Grey River overcame downtown Greymouth for the second time in five months yesterday, leaving 80 per cent of the shops awash in up to two metres of water, and 110 homes evacuated.

A curfew was in force in the central business district last night, where shop windows had collapsed under the pressure of floodwaters, sending stock washing on to streets. The curfew will be reviewed at a meeting of Civil Defence personnel in Greymouth at 7.30 a.m. today. The Grey, Buller, and Inangahua rivers were all dropping this morning and were expected to continue falling unless there was further heavy rain. Up to 60mm of overnight rain was expected in some catchment areas, but this was not expected to make a substantial difference. Miss Monica Hulme, public information officer with Civil Defence in Greymouth, said 110 homes in Greymouth Borough had been evacuated, mainly in Blaketown and Cobden. Up to 30 homes in Grey County had been evacuated, including about 20 at Kaiata, just north of Greymouth, which was believed to be virtually deserted last ingMiss Hulme said many residents were staying with family or friends. About 250 of those moved registered with Civil Defence welfare and were billeted overnight. Businesses in Greymouth spent Monday night and early yesterday morning lifting stock and carpet in anticipation of the flood. Few, however, could have predicted the severity of the flood, which is certainly the worst Greymouth has seen. Greymouth is how almost isolated, State highway 7 through the Lewis Pass being closed at Stillwater and at the Hurunui River bridge in North Canterbury. State highway 73 through Arthur’s Pass is closed after a washout at Cass and several slips. State highway 6 is closed at

Hawks Crag and Inangahua, and there are numerous slips on the highway between Greymouth and Punakaiki, reducing it to one lane. The chairman of the West Coast United Council, Mrs Margaret Moir, declared a state of emergency at 9.13 a.m. yesterday for Grey Borough, Grey County and Inangahua County. The emergency was declared for Runanga Borough at 2.39 p.m. The flooding was particularly heartbreaking for those who had lost carpets and goods in the May floods, and who had also faced threats of no more insurance cover. The Mayor of Greymouth, Dr Barry Dallas, who spoke to “The Press” by radio-telephone in a jet boat from the town’s main business area, said it was the most disastrous flood in the borough’s history. Floodwaters were more than a metre above the May level, he said. The borough’s Civil Defence co-ordinator, . Mr Norman Schultze, said he had flown over the borough and part of the Grey Valley in a helicopter. “Only the roofs of the stables at Victoria Park were visible and at Omoto water appeared to be going through the ground floor of the Greymouth Jockey Club’s new grandstand.” Many schools in the district, including Greymouth Intermediate and the town’s two high schools, were closed yesterday. Although the three were out of the danger area, school bus services were cut.

Two Air Force Iroquois helicopters flew from Wigram to Greymouth last evening. Five Unimog trucks from 3 Transport Squadron at Burnham Military Camp are on standby to travel to Greymouth today. Further reports, pictures, pages 3 and 49