CASUAL WATER

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

CASUAL WATER

AND FAR TOO MUCH OF IT

The journey, 'along the 'Hutt road between the city and Petone yesterday was made more than usually interesting : by tho.number of waterfalls' along tho routo. A dozen or more fell from tho brow of the hill to the road beneath, some being tho normal small streams'/swollen to torrents, and others being strangers, to tho road users. Their prcttiness was undoubted, but so was tho inconvenience .they caused to" traffic, for 'in parts tho water overran the gutters and collected-on the road up to tho. centre. At : least one accident was-caused by the water, when at dusk a driver, unablo to see for the spray of tho car ahead,, braked his car and skidded across the road, hit. another car, -and'crashed through the fenco on to the-railway line. No one, was hurt. -. FLOODED TOOTPATHS. '"'Some inconvenience*, but no damage w l as'caused'iii-Petono by the rain. As is usual when the .downpour, is persistent and heavy, a great deal of surface water collected on tho streets, particularly at about 11 a.m., 'when tho tide was at tho full. Tho streets in the eastern area were the worst affected, but Jackson street, near Cuba street; was not without its flooded footpaths, necessitating the uso of planks to 'give access to shop doorWays.' Regent' street, not usually flooded now, was partially covered. ■By about 0 p.m. the water had subsided all over the borough. Part of the''-Recreation- Ground, however, 'was etill flooded this morning. A few small slips and one fair-sized fall occurred ou the Koro Koro Hillroad, but the way was not blocked. In Lower Hutt, Pharazyn street, Totara crescent, and Waterloo road were covered in places with water. Similar trouble was experienced in Mocra, but considering tho heaviness of tho. rain that district was remarkably free of water. On: tho hillside above tho Moiling station a power pole was washed out aiid a small slip fell ou the Moiling track. AftWET SEASON.. A'Lower Hutt resident who koops a record of the rainfall stated last,night that during tho last six months, which included threo: dry months, 32 inches of rain fell in Lower Hutt. This,"ho said, was almost double tho fall in AVellington .in. tho-same period. Tho Hutt River, at its highest last hight,'was .5 feet -; above' "its normal level," so that it.was only a "baby" flood. At the point in tho Taita Gorge where repair,work is proceeding on tho washed-out road tho'-"workmen's plank, bridge across,i-itho river was' again carried away. Several small slips fell ;on the Taita- Gorge, road. They .necessitated careful driving, but wero not sufficient to block the road completely. Before nightfall 'the Public -Works men were busy in removing them.. .