WATER SHOOTS HIGH INTO AIR

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 153, 25 March 1938, Page 12

WATER SHOOTS HIGH INTO AIR

Two Cars Flooded When Main Bursts Pedestrians were drenched and two motor cars were flooded with water when a 12-inch main burst through a hydrant in Courtenay Place, Wellington, and shot a 50-foot column of water into the air yesterday afternoon. The spout occurred at about 3.10 p.m. near the corner of Taranaki Street and the water continued to play for nearly eight minutes. Twelve valves in surrounding streets were shut off to ease the pressure before the water was under control. A small car with an open “sunshine" roof, which was parked within a few feet of the hydrant, was flooded with water and had to be bailed out before it could be moved. Another car was also drenched and a considerable quantity of soft goods samples in the back were damaged. This ear was not able to be started until the spark plugs were dried.

Surrounding shop verandahs were dripping water for some time afterward and the street was ■ streaming with water for a radius of about 20 yards.

Wellington City Corporation waterworks employees were on rhe spot to repair the broken hydrant within a few minutes but, by that time, there were wet clothes drying on their owners’ backs in many Wellington streets some distance from the scene of the burst.