Hill snowdrifts pupils’ delight

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 7

Hill snowdrifts pupils’ delight

By

DAVE WILSON

The 236 pupils of Mt Pleasant Primary School, could not believe their good luck yesterday — the best snowfall in the place for years, and the school heating system broken down, giving all of them a day off school to make snowmen.

The frigid south-easterly that swept over Banks Peninsula and the city’s eastern suburbs on Tuesday evening caused disruption to morning commuter traffic from the hill suburbs.

State highway 75 to Akaroa was closed also, with 300 mm of snow on the Hilltop and along the Summit Road, and snowdrifts up to Im deep in places. Farmers could not reach their stock and Akaroa County Council staff had to haul stranded vehicles from snowdrifts.

A substantial carpet of snow covered Sumner Beach, locals saying the fall was the heaviest in years. Banks Peninsula and the eastern suburbs were transformed into a Christmas Card scene, with schoolchildren getting the presents. The Mt Pleasant School’s heating system breakdown was unrelated to the cold snap, but was sufficient for the school to declare a brief holiday.

Not that all of the pupils had been able to reach school anyway. The hill roads round Mt Pleasant

proved impassable to Christchurch Transport Board buses and this route, and a feeder link between Clifton Hill and local schools, closed temporarily. At Mt Pleasant, the C.T.B. used a van to shuttle passengers from the hill to bus services on the flat. All hill services were restored by late morning.

Two teachers at Sumner School missed class when snow stranded them. The principal, Mr Peter Vesty, said about 20 pupils had been unable to reach school.

Some Redcliffs School pupils were snowbound in their homes. Junior pupils at the school had an unexpected outdoor lesson in snowman building, which was videotaped for the school’s archives.

The Akaroa County engineer, Mr Ken Paulin, said the snowfall gave council staff eight hours work, clearing roads and rescuing stranded vehicles.

Motorists using the hill roads would have to be particularly careful today, he said. “You can grade the snow to the

side of the road, but overnight the road will freeze and in the morning the black ice can mean just as hazardous driving conditions. “Motorists using the high roads will have to be careful until at least noon today.”

The Automobile Association reported that extreme care was needed on State highway 75 to Akaroa and motorists using the Hilltop route were being advised to use chains.

The .cold snap caused Southpower to cut water heating across the city in the early hours of yesterday, and again late in the afternoon. Blanket water heating cuts were used to offset a surge in electricity use, and to keep district power consumption levels down.

Six households in Mt Pleasant lost power because of the snowfall, but all were reconnected by 11 a.m. The Meteorological Service predicts better weather for today and Friday. Showers are expected about the coast, but otherwise Canterbury should get fine weather and light winds.