ROADS AFFECTED

Evening Post, Issue 56, 7 March 1934, Page 11

ROADS AFFECTED

FISSURES APPEAR SURVEY OF DAMAGE (By Telegraph—Press Association.) PAHIATUA, This Day. Several back-country settlers were forced to evacuate their homes on the night of the earthquake owing to the extensive nature of the damage. The damage to business firms is estimated at w^ell over £25,000. Heavy rain ruined stocks, and few shops escaped. The W.F.C.A. experienced most damage. Tho mostiserious road blockage is between Pahiatua and Pongaroa. The Makuri Gorge will not be open till Thursday. Makuri seems to have fared worse than any other district. Taking two men with- him with spades and axes, Mr. Rutherford set out in a car from Makuri yesterday morning over tho Pongaroa Road to Rakaunui. On-the Makuri side of the Pongaroa Hill they encountered frequent obstructions. Great cracks were on the road, some running parallel with the roadside, and were a - chain in length. Others crisscrossed in various directions. In some spots the road had" dropped two feet, and they just managed to get through. Further on they saw notching so severe as that at Makuri. On tho Wangaehu Road a back road leading into Masterton, thero were also a few fissures. In the Makuri township tho approach to tho bridge had dropped considerably, but traffic could still just get across. The homesteads there are badly wrecked inside.