AFTER THE STORM

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 142, 13 December 1939, Page 12

AFTER THE STORM

FLOODS SUBSIDING

MUCH SILT AND DEBRIS ABOUT

CONDITION OF ROADS

i Although the storm may be over and the sun shining again, evidence of the phenomenal rainfall ot the last few days is still at hand on every side. Large areas in the Hutt Valley were still under water this morning, and where the flood waters have receded there is much left in the way of silt and debris, and the same applies to those areas in the suburbs which were flooded yesterday.

The rain cased off very considerably yesterday, and after 9 a.m. - only a further 11 points were recorded at Kelburn. This brought the total for the spell up to 7.88 inches, only just short of eight inches. That the rain was heavier in the hills than in the city is shown by the fact that the gauge at the Wainui reservoir at 9 a.m. yesterday registered a fall of 10.19 inches, as against one of 6 inches at Kelburn. The Orongorongo fall during the same period was 6.45 inches, while that at the Karori reservoir was 6.5 inches.

With the cessation of the lieayy rain, the Hutt River fell fairly quickly yesterday. By last night it had gone down some eight feet, and was lower still this morning, although a turbulent flood was still carrying much debris out to sea and discolouring the harbour waters over a very wide area.

The work of clearing slips, of removing silt from the floors of flooded houses, and of restoring washed-out gardens once again to productive plots, is proceeding in many parts of the city and suburbs, but it will f>e some time before all traces of the "Centennial flood" of December, 1939, will have been removed.