SOAKING RAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 8, 9 July 1931, Page 11

SOAKING RAIN

mm FLOODING

AND MINOR SLIPS

Tlie cyclonic storm which wrought such havoc a day or two ago in Sydney and caused flooding in New South Wales made quick pasage across the Tasmah Sea and has been of rough weather nd h avy rain'in many parts of the ■ Dominion. ' Wollhigtou had its heaviest twenty-four-hour rain-' fall for some time. .For 2_-hours ending at.O.a.m. to-.dny IS7 points had been recorded at Kelburn and 208 at Lower Hutt. This is tho heaviest fall since 21' st August, 1029, when 200 points of rain were-recorded at Kelburn in one day. .Last year's heaviest-rainfall .in--24 hours was 175 points on 13th December.

Flooding occurred yesterday iv parts of the Hutt. Valley, although tho river did not rise as high as was the caso a few weeks ago. Bound Manor Park and Stokes Valley a fairly extensive area was submerged,- due in . part to the "backing up of the waters of smaller streams, ft Water flowed over tho main highway' at Silverstream, near the bridge. lv. parts of Pctono streets became temporarily flooded yesterday afternoon, and pedestrians in places wero forced to wade through several inches of water. ' Access to some shops was made easier by tho laying of planks across the flooded areas. Along the Hutt road there was flooding in places in tho later nftornoon, some of tho waterfalls descending the hillsides being swollen far beyond their usual proportions ami making quite a spectacle. The clearing of the stormwater channels, however, soon • ■ allowed the water to run off the bitumen;.

Considering the heaviness and persistence of tlie raiii, it would not huve been surprising had slips been more oxteiisivo ; than' they wore. The most serious, wero those in the Taita Gorge, where . the ; road ; was "blocked "for some time 'in the afternoon. A Public Works gang cleared*a passage through tho debris by nightfall. Many minor-slips-camo down in other places, these including a couple of- small ones along the Hutt road, and-one on the Koro Koro Hill. In tho' city were some minor slips too. Botwoon twenty and thirty feet of fencing round the north-west corner of Anderson Park came away with the ground beneath it, and slight damq-go was done in other localities too.