NAPIER-TAUPO ROAD IMPASSABLE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 261, 2 August 1939, Page 5

NAPIER-TAUPO ROAD IMPASSABLE

Further Heavy Snow GRADERS UNABLE TO FUNCTION Dominion Special Service HASTINGS, August 1. According to a message from the patrol officer of the Automobile Association (Hawke’s .Bay). Mr. M. Locke, the Na-pier-Taupo Road Is impassable because of furtlier heavy falls of snow today. Mr. Locke traversed the road this morning to the farthest point that could be reached, and ho reports that To I.’ohue and Titiokura are the worst sections. Drifts arc nearly a foot deep on the road, and the cold is so intense that the surface is frozen to stieh an extent that graders cannot function. It was still snowing when be left Te Pohue at 3 o’clock this afternoon, and he does not consider that traffic will be able to get through tomorrow. Tlie Hawke’s Bay Motor Company s service car, equipped with chains and special tyres, took 24 hours to travel from Titiokura to Te Haroto, a distance of 12 miles, anil the service car from Wairoa, after repeated attempts to get through, turned back. Early in the afternoon the Wairoa Road was very greasy, but, provided the maximum care was exercised, it was still negotiable. The' routes from Waikaremoana to Wairoa. and from Waikaremoana to Rotorua, are also completely blocked, and it is reported that snow is still falling heavily in this vicinity.