FLOODED FIELDS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1931, Page 14

FLOODED FIELDS

DELUGE AT PORIRUA

RAILWAY- UNDER WATER

Heavy rain yesterday morning, combined with a high'tide, which caused the Porirua stream to back up, transformed green fields in the neighbourhood, of the Plimmerton, Porirua, and Pahautanui townships into a dreary waste of water, the surface of which was broken by the tops of fences. A number of houses were flooded. Not only were householders compelled to take steps to keep furnishings clear of the water, but: travellers on the roads had to find their way through water ■which was anything up to three feet in depth, while the railway line at Porirua was about three inches under water, a most unusual occurrence. The township of Porirua was the most seriously . affected, the streets being seriously flooded for a time^ although the water receded fairly quickly. Evidenco of an exceptional rainfall in the hills—it is thought that something in. the nature of a cloudburst may have occurred—was supplied by the many waterfalls pouring down the hillsides, giving a spectacular effect that was wholly missing from the scene on the flats. NO GREAT DAMAGE. The damage caused by the flood was not as great as might have been expected, although some of the repair work done after . the Easter flood was affected in the Ngahauranga Gorge. In the Hutt Valley area the delugo was not as severe as on the western side of the hills> and no further damage was done in the Taita Gorge, where the water kept well below the road level. Thursday night ',a rainfall is attributed to a small cyclone which, after being centred -off-Westport on the previous day, and causing heavy precipitation' '' 'there, passed eastward through Cook Strait that nigh*,. There is no official rain -gauge in the Porirua area, but the fair at Wellington up till 9 a.m. yesterday, 151 points, was the heaviest recorded since July last, while 170 points were registered at Lower Hutt. The Lower Hutt rainfall was particularly, heavy between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.