BREAK OF THE LONG DROUGHT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3037, 26 March 1917, Page 4

BREAK OF THE LONG DROUGHT

WELCOME RAINFALL GENERAL. The drought which has afflicted the country lor so loug broke on Saturday nigtit, arid a welcome • downpour set in, which-is reported to bo fairly general, in .Wellington, the weatner, which had been threatening and oppressively "muggy" for some time previously, broke on Saturday evening, when the rain fell in heavy showers. The weather lifted somewhat on Sunday, but about live o'clock the wind suddenly veered to the south-east, and a heavy downpour set in, changing later to driving squalls. . . . ■

The heaviest rain fell between 10 p.m. and midnight on Saturday, when the water simply pelted down with tropical violence, smacking the city wood-blocks with such force that a thick mist was caused by tbo rebounding spray. Three minutes' immersion was sufficient to soak one to the skin. People who had gone to places of amusement in ordinary attire were caught at the fait of the curtain. Many amusing sights were to be seen in the streets, and hundreds or people received the-soaking of their lives. Trams swished along through flooded streets and every spout. and" gutter fin the city seemed inadequate to the pressure : put upon them. There were street lloods in ■ many parts of the city. The lower end of Tory Street re.senftled a river.'- No footpaths or roadway could be discerned for a distance of fifty yards, and right across. Courtenay Place the flood waters stretehed somo inches deep. Cellars were invaded, and in Willis ■ Street the wood-blocks were burst up at one point by. the action of the watei-. The drains of the city were badly in need of a flushing, and they got it to the full. Best of all the city .water supply has been augmented by the downpour. At Waihui the fall registered for the twenty-four hours from 9 a.m.' on Saturday until 9 a.m. yesterday was 1.12 inches. The guage at Karori gave it as 1.11 inches. The fall \vas ; therefore a very heavy one, as -it practically all:fell within it period of less than seven hours. -, The level of the water in the Morton'dam at Wainui was still over 20 feet below the , lip of the by-wash at 10 a.m. yesterday, hut then the stream was running pretty fully as the result of the 'nignt'e-'rain.'."-' : . - .' - L ~

:.. '; IN 'OTHER DISTRICTS. ' .. ■'-. By Telegraph—Press Association. , ■ / Chrlstohurch', March 25. The very'long spell of dry weather has'brokem .Heavy rain started',lasv night, continued until 10.30 o'clock this morning, when there? was a slight, break..' Heavy rain.' again fell during tie The, rain, which was vecyf badly wanted, has been fairly general'throughout Canterbury. , . ' ■• ■ ■ Tiniaru, March 25. The drought lias probably ended: There '.was a decided change in the weather .on .■'Saturday l \when. over' an inch of rail fell during:' the- night.. Light showers have fallen 6ince ; and the-skyJβ still overcast this evening.