Whakatane People Join To Repair Ravages Of Storm

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 April 1948, Page 5

Whakatane People Join To Repair Ravages Of Storm

(PA.) AUCKLAND, This Day. Little business was done in Whakatane today as shopkeepers and County Council employees worked to repair the ravages of the violent electrical storm that swept the Buy of Plenty and caused the-worst flood in Whakatane since 1916 during the *w eek “* en cl • 1 From 11 o’clock on Saturday night, when the centre of the storm suddenly reached the town after a windless and showery evening, there weie five hours of torrential rain, rolls of thunder and • brilliant sheet and forked lightning. . n At Opotiki 7.28 inches of ram tell in the 24 hours to 9 o’clock yesterday. At Waiawa, seven miles from Opotiki, the centre of the valley is heavily flooded, holding up traffic throughout yesterday. „ “The sea and floods jyere one ’ a Waihi beach resident said today. The beach was strewn with all kinds or wreckage yesterday, including. heavy planks from bridges, all of which between the beach and Waihi were washed out when the stream overflowed. About a dozen cinema . patrons were stranded in a theatre all night. Others waded waist deep through the flood to reach their homes. . Late reports from Tauranga - indicate that the flood damage is not very great.