THE RAINFALL

Evening Star, Issue 19842, 16 April 1928, Page 5

THE RAINFALL

REFRESHING, GUT INSUFFICIENT On Saturday afternoon the clouds seemed bursting, and a lot of rain was expected, but the actual downfall in the afternoon and evening • could only be described as light showers, and as the temperature kept high and there was no wind worth speaking about the chances of a restorative downpour grew less and loss as night advanced. Some real rain did fall on Saturday night over the whole Dunedin district, but it did no more than give the surface ground a refreshing. Yesterday, also, the discharge from above was very slight. Lost; night and early this morning the downfall was heavier, but still not nearly as much as was wanted for the building up of water supplies. The instrument at the pumping station recorded .230, or a little more than a quarter of an inch, for the twenty-four hours ended at 9 a.m. today, and this measurement corresponds with that taken at the city reservoirs for the city engineer's records. DUNEDIN WATER SUPPLY Mr J. 0. Alexander, the eily engineer, said this morning at 10.15 that the rainfall at Ross Creek was .26, as compared with .27 on Saturdayat the Southern Reservoir .29_, as against 20 on Saturday; at Sullivan’s Dam ISO. as against .27. The rain up to that time'had had no appreciable effect on the reservoirs, but he hoped that some rise would bo noted in the course of a clay or two. . Early this afternoon the indications were for a clearing up rather than rain in abundance, for the clouds were lifting and the air was quite warm. WAIPORI SUPPLY STILL DIMINISHING Air Af. C. Hcndci •son, tho city electrical engineer, reported, in answer to an inquiry at 10.3 U, that there had been a bit of rain at Waipori, but it hail not been enough to even stop the loss. This morning tho Mahincrangi Dam water stood at 31ft, or a foot lower than six days ago. Ho explained that it takes a fair amount of rain to make any difference in the level after dry weather. All that light rain ran do is to soak into tho ground and thus prepare the way for heavier rain to boost the supply. Air Henderson added: “Wo don’t want to put on restrictions, but we ask consumers of electricity in any and every way to exercise all the economy they can, until there is a full restoration from above.” MOLYNEUX RIVER STEADY HEAVY RAIN AGAIN IN CENTRAL. Cromwell reported on Sunday fit [) 15 a.m.: The river is at the 141:t mark, and is still rising slowly._ Rain lias ceased throughout tho district.^ \ report at 5 p.m. stated: The river is steady at tho lift mark; no further rain. A further report at 9 a.m. to-day states: There has been heavy rain since 3 a.m. all over the district. It eased slightly at 8 a.m. Tho river is still at the lift mark.