HUTT RIVER FLOOD

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 133, 3 December 1930, Page 9

HUTT RIVER FLOOD

LITTLE DAMAGE REPORTED

■Reporting to the Hutt River Board last night on the 'damage done by the recent flood, the engineer, Mr. H. Slaaden, said that a general inspection has indicated that remarkably little damage had o'ceurred, such being principally small damage to willow and cable protection in various places, and destruction of fences. He anticipated that in general the channel would be found to have benefited. "It is noticeable that the Dexton channel, as forecasted in the May report, has been closed, indicating that some improvement towards the desired rcgrading of the proper channel at the lower end of Giesen's has taken place. At Jones's camp the flood appears to have been the highest on record. This I attribute to the large accnmulation of shingle between here and the shingle company's Belmont plant. As the new drag line plant will soon be in operation on this beach, a rapid reduction of the accumulation is contemplated. From Kingdon's beach to the estuary very little has occurred to indicate that there has been a big flood, and small erosion at Gear Island just below Chapman's bend has occurred, but it is not serious. Perhaps the most serious damage is the breaking away of ftio board's pile-driving punt, which was moored above the Hutt bridge. It was thrown up on one of the groynes at Strand Park^. and some of the deck planks were damaged. It is anticipated that it can be repaired without much cost. The derrick and the ram are thrown up, apparently undamaged, but the oil engine, which weighs about five tons, has not so far been recovered. No flooding occurred in the Awamotu or at Moera."