CALM AFTER STORM IN WELLINGTON

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 270, 11 August 1938, Page 15

CALM AFTER STORM IN WELLINGTON

Evidence Of Damage Left

SCENE IN BOTANICAL GARDENS

Last night iu Wellington was as calm as the previous night was stormy. A strung southerly breeze prevailed during the day, but it died down and tin' night. although cold, was still and elelir.

The storm on Tuesday night left its trail, am! evidence of its severity was to be seen in many places yesterday. The paths of the üßtanical Gargens presented a desolate sight ami debris was scattered everywhere. The hail and tlie force of the rain had scoured the paths to such an extent that the sumps were blocked. Notice boards had been knocked over by numerous slips which descended on to the paths, and a number of workmen were engaged yesterday in restoring order.

In the Kliandallah district four electric light poles were blown down. Two of them were 20ft. service poles and two were 27ft. poles. Officials of the electric light department considered that in the circumstances the system had escaped lightly.

Building and plumbing firms in the' city received many calls yesterday. The majority of them were for attention to leaks. Most of these had been caused by gutters and traps becoming blocked with hail so that the water could not escape. ,

Water was still, dripping from the ceiling of the mayor’s room in the Town Hall at noon yesterday. Immediately above are the custodian’s apartments and an office used by the clerk of the municipal officers’ sick and benefit fund. A large piece of plaster an inch iu thickness bad fallen from the ceiling of the office, and water hud apparently streamed through this aperture, soaking the carpets and finding its way through to the mayor’s room beneath. At an early hour yesterday the custodian and his staff were at work lifting carpets and cleaning out the rooms. All along the line of lower Cuba Street, the interior walls of the Concert Chamber showed where the water had entered from the gutters. Similar evidence was visible on the western side of the Town Hall. The .wide gutters and the gully traps leading from them had been choked with frozen masses of hail, and it was not any reflection on the condition of the roof that the water found its way through.