SUDDEN FLOOD

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 51, 4 March 1929, Page 11

SUDDEN FLOOD

A BURST RESERVOIR

MOUNT EDEN WATER SUPPLY

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day.

At 5.30 this morning the Mount Eden underground reservoir, with a capacity of 1,250,000 gallons, supplying a largo area .of the city and , suburbs, burst with a roar that was heard a mile away, and the water rushed down the mountain-side, taking a course mainly along what is known as The Drive. The greater part, went into a disused quarry, but a huge stream swept down the hillside on to the main road, gradually getting away over the sloping land on either side of the road. This morning the road was impassablo for traffic. The tram service was held up, and relief was provided by buses. The road was covered for half a mile with silt, lumps „of concrete, and excavating tools and plant. There was only a little damage to property.' In some places the water covered lawns a foot deep, but apparently it did no other damage. Fortunately nobody was about at that early hour. The rush of water lasted for half an hour. The whole of one side of the square reservoir was carried awayi The cause of the disaster was apparently an excavation which was being made for the extension of the reservoir.

, The reservoir was a ferro-conerete structure built in 1912, and alongside it an excavation was being made for another reservoir. It was' the concrete wall between the two reservoirs that carried away. As the huge volume of water poured down tho hillside, three motor vehicles were completely overwhelmed. The force of the water was so great that the concrete wall, 13in thick, was carried 80ft to 100 ft and smashed to pieces. Had tho reservoir burst half an hour later, thirty men would have been working on the new reservoir, and nothing could have saved them. One slab of the concrete wall, weighing 32 tons, was carried 80ft. A big concrete mixor was deposited 180 ft away. A section of the reservoir roof, 80ft by 18ft, was left hanging. The rushing water tore up tho main road oxtensively, and caused much damage on the roads leading to the lower levels. In one place there is a chasm 15ft deep by 50ft long, extending practically the whole width of the footpath in a, side street. Water pouring into the ribbish tip on the mountain caused an awful stench. The reserve service pumping' plant is being used to meet urgent requirements. • The damage affects all the higher levels in the city and suburban water supply area, Symonds street, Graf ton road, and Khyber Pass.