THE CANTERBURY STORM

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 9, 10 July 1931, Page 8

THE CANTERBURY STORM

WIDE AREA AFFECTED

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.), CHRISTCHURCH, 9th July. " • The heavy snowstorm yesterday aui throughout last night, besides interfering with the trains on the Midland railway, caused serious temporary disorganisation of the railway telegraph' and telephone service between Christchurch ana the West Coast. The snow caused great damage to the telephone linos, and there arc only slight prospects that telephonic communication, with the Coast will be restored to-mor-row. In aSTorth Canterbury five or sis miles of circuit has been quite destroyed. In the absence of" wind the'snow froze round the wires till they resembled huge cables and broke under .the weight. . One of the passengers who was on the train from the West Coast started from Kum'ara'on'Wednesday night in, ~ a motor-car, but was stopped by a .huge white pine tree .which the wind "had blown across the road. Straddled across the bole of the tree was another',, car which had struck it in the dark and had leapt partly over tha ob'struetion. Other trees were down across the wires between Otira and Kumara. Prom an early hour this morning gangs of repair men from the Christchurch and Greymouth telegraph offices. were out in the worst possible weather conditions repairing miles of seriouslydamaged lines' which'have to be replaced beforo telephonic • communication with the West Coast can return to normal. Between Bealey and the pass and between Springfield and the Bealey; there arc still, miles of line to attend ,to. There were between thirty and; forty breaks in the stretch from Spring' field tO'Darfield alone. The district telegraph engineer states that breaks in the line' from Culverdeu to Waiau were so numerous that live or six miles were' practically wiped ontJ Between Eangiora and Oxford all lines had gone, but they had been restored. It would take a few days completely toj restore all lines'to normal. ■ The road between Springfield and Arthur's Pass isbloekcd by snow, and this interfered greatly with repair; work.- It is likely that road communication with the Coast will be blocked for a few days. ' ' In the country, near the foothills, tha snow is the heaviest experienced for years, and on soveral roads, improvised snow ploughs cleared the way , for traffic. Motor graders proved effective in shifting the snow. • Tie snow in North Canterbury ranged from Bin to 13in in depth. Owing to the fact that no direct communication can be' made1 with most ©2 the back country districts, it cannot b<)' ascertained whether farmers have suffered any losses of stock. In the foothills especially it is thought that there may be considerable mortality among sheep if the snow does not thaw within a day or two. The danger is not'lack of food, bnt deep snowdrifts in which, the sheep may become bogged. If is not unusual for mobs, of from twenty to thirty sheep f be caught ia one drift .