UNUSUAL WEATHER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 60, 8 September 1937, Page 7

UNUSUAL WEATHER

FLOODS IN BLENHEIM

ROADS UNDER WATER

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

BLENHEIM, This Day.

As a result of light rain that has been falling intermittently for the past ten days the Picton-Blenheim main highway is covered in- several places with Twater several feet deep and it is unlikely that it will be clear before Thursday. The main cause of the flooding is the overflowing of a swamp around which the highway winds for several. miles. The swamp has been fed by water from the surrounding hillsides, and the Tua Marina Stream, which normally provides the outlet, has become blocked, thus transforming the swamp into a lake, the waters of which have been rising for several days.

The amount of water in the swamp is almbst unprecedented, and the position is 'more unusual because the Wairau River, which usually is the cause ;of flopding on the highway,, is practically normal. * -. '.

The only connection with Picton now open is by rail, and although the rain has. now ceased passengers on trains report that torrents are still pouring into the swamp from'the hillsides. One motor-car was trapped by flood water on Monday and is now covered,to the top of the bonnet, and another car, which attempted to get through, came to grief through missing the road altogether and plunging into deep-water from which the occupants had a scramble.to escape.-

,At Marshlands, five miles northwest of Blenheim, major flooding has occurred through the Pukaka Stream overflowing its banks, and it is estimated that more than 1000 acres are under water. Yesterday -was the eleventh successive day on which there was an almost complete absence of sun in Blenheim, and since the beginning of the month, only lhr 24min of sunshine has, been recorded. It is a most unusual position for the district, which nearly always is near the top of the list for" sunshine in New Zealand.