STORM IN NORTH

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 37, 14 February 1938, Page 8

STORM IN NORTH

MUCH DAMAGE DONE

TRAFFIC INTERRUPTED

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, February 13.

Communication wittrvariousdistricts to the north of Auckland was seriously interrupted by an electrical storm of extreme violence, which, accompanied by very heavy rain, swept the city and the area up to Maungaturoto on Saturday.

On the East Coast, Warkworth, Matakana, and Kawau felt the full force of the storm, landslides blocking many of the roads, and culverts and wharves being damaged or washed away. On the West Coast heavy flooding at Hoteo delayed rail traffic between Auckland and Whangarei. The road from' Warkworth to Wellsford was completely blocked by a^ large slip. ■ ,

Serious damage was caused at'Matakana. The: old wharf was washed away and the new wharf damaged. A shed containing a motor-car and motor-truck was swept awayl with the old wharf. Although the lr«lck was rescued at once,' the car was carried down the river for some distance until a man on shore threw a rope and caught it by the radiator cap.; The car was pulled into slack water. Another shed, belonging to the Matakana Dairy Company, was. washed downstream, and sixty-eight 44-gallon petrol drums were lost with their contents, although it is, still hoped to recover them.-

At Lower Matakana, a number of persons who <tiad left their cars at a sandspit before going by launch to Kawau for the Royal ,New Zealand Yacht Squadron's regatta, found on their return that slips on the road1 to Warkworth had temporarily isolated Matakana. On the Workworth-Leigh road the bridge was left intact, but the flood waters carried off some roadway on' each: side for a distance of about ten feet and* the road to Leigh beyond Matakana was impassable. Repairs will take several days.

Flood waters at Hoteo seriously interfered with the normal running of railway traffic between Auckland and Whangarei. • Conditions improved in the afternoon and the Railways Department hoped to resume normal running at midday. However, a further heavy electrical storm was experienced behind Maungaturoto and by 5.30 the Hoteo Eiver was up higher than it had been before: This rapid rise finally stopped traffic, and water was still four feet over the line today, al.though normal running will be resumed tomorrow. I