KAIWARRA DAMAGE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 8, 4 October 1941, Page 10

KAIWARRA DAMAGE

Ngaio Gorge Road Closed RAVAGES OF FLOOD WATERS Damage done to the installation and plant at the Atlantic Union Oil Company’s bulk terminal which was flooded at Kaiwarra through the bursting of a weir under the severe pressure of the Kaiwarra stream, is estimated easily to exceed £lOOO. Yesterday the flood, after dropping several feet, was still racing through the area surrounding the storage tanks, which were in tfie middle of a lake. With a capacity of 50,000 gallons, a small crude oil tank was undermined, but it was not considered that its position would become serious. Meanwhile the extent of the scouring, if any, underneath the big tanks could not be ascertained. The flood put out of action the electrical switch-gear operating the fuel pumps and pipe-lines, and this service will be restored when the water subsides. Both full and empty oil drums were carried away by the raging torrent, but most of the former have been recovered. The harbour board authorities were engaged in picking them up from the sea yesterday. Others, scattered about the beaches where they were washed ashore, are being recovered as circumstances perm The police at Petone, with the assistance of men from the Atlantic Union Oil Company and others, recovered about 20 full' drums of oil fuel from Windy Point, near Dolling and Lee’s quarry on the Hutt Road yesterday afternoon. The drums had received a terrific battering on the rocks and many of them were leaking. Several empty drums were also recovered. Damage In The Gorge.

Cliffs and cuttings were still crumbling in the Ngaio Gorge yesterday Waterfalls and cascades were tumbling down the steep sides at points, threatening both the railway and the roadway. There was rather an extensive creeping slip near the tunnel entrance overlooking the oil installation, round which muddy water was swirling everywhere. Cuts had been made in the protective. banking round the oil tanks to relieve the pressure of the imprisoned waters, which had already burst through jn other places, and almost carried away a small wooden bridge. There was considerable damage to manufactures in various stages of completion at the Neeco factory on the banks of the Kaiwarra. Motors and part of the plant were inundated, and gas and water mains carried away. Meanwhile, just below this point; heavy erosion has caused a big subsidence over a' fadius of several chains, imperilling the road, part of which has slipped away. The gap was still widening yesterday as the soft spoil continued to slide into the stream. Down below, in the water, was collapsed fencing and an electriclight pole, another being stranded on the bank. Above the roadway, rubble and rotten rock looked very threatening, and likely to come down in landslides if it started to move. The road has been dangerously undermined, and as it was slipping away foot by foot it was closed at 3.30 p.m. Right along tho hunks of the stream where it passes the oil company’s installation is evidence of erosion, and many drums have been jammed in the subsidences, being held only by the fencing. The corner of a building has been undermined lower down and, not a hundred yards from the main road, the furniture has been ruined in two houses which had to be evacuated. There is nearly a foot of muddy slime where there were formerly vegetable gardens, and yesterday kitchen chairs and other furniture were floating in the company of oil-drums in the backyards. Fowls were marooned in one place. Buildings Battered. After smashing through a washhouse and leaving it a wreck, with heavy drums hurled into the remnants of the building, the flood battered the rear portion of other premises, two of which had nearly three feet of water in the front rooms. There were six feet of water in the kitchen of one of these houses. The unlucky tenants were engaged all day yesterday clearing out many inches of muddy slime from dwellings, and endeavouring to dry clothes and floor-coverings. Fences had been carried away at some points and at others, where they had stood, oil-drums were thrown over the top by the water. Fears were expressed yesterday afternoon that the stream might be rising again, and residents were anxiously watching the backyard tide. Sluicing methods were being adopted yesterday to clear the deposits of silt out of Cable and Co.’s foundry and workshops, where there will be serious delay in the moulding plant.