RAIN AT WELLINGTON

Grey River Argus, 17 August 1934, Page 5

RAIN AT WELLINGTON

SOMI STREET FLOODING. (Pei; Press Association.) WELLINGTON, August 16, Rain thii morning assumed quite abnormal proportions for half ar hour, from iten to ten thirty, with the resu'.t that I Wellington’s storm-water .system was- quite unable to cope with the situati'oh, and several portions the streets I were badly flooded. Between nue and eleven o’clock, no less than hinety-five points of rain fell, and or this 85 points nvere be tween nine ,and ton-thirty. About ton o’clock rain was falling almost in a solid sheet, the heaviest experienced for many years.

The •wo’iist places were at Government Buildings, and the Basin Reserve. where the water spouted up from bei’ow, and considerable areas of wo'od-blocking were lilted. Tram services were held up at these spots and the service was thus disorganised for ove»a twenty minutes.

Lamb ton Quay and Ballance Street were flooded right across, and pedestrian traffic was hold up on the footpath, people who felt the necessity of proceeding on their way taking to the street, and walking along (he tramlines although even these were coveired with water. The vicinity of the Public Trust was another bad spot, and entrance and egress from this spot and other buildings was cut off

Willis Street at the AVindsor Hotel was also flooded, right across, and the vicinity of the Public Library was equally bad. An incident there a telegraph messenger falling from a hi cycle, to receive a thorough ducking. Cars parked in the neighbourhood had water half-way’ up to their wheels. At bad places, people in a hurrv could be seen taking sound in as bct'oio attempting to ch’oss over the street. Afost people naturally were content to take shelter under the verandahs and in shops. Water found a wav into many basements and considorab’e damage is reported from these places. One shoo in Lamb ton Quav a. chemist’s, had a Tver flowing through from the back to the front, and some other •'hop® 'were flooded to a loss extent. Remarkable enough, the water disappeared almost as suddenly as it had appeared, and except for a certain amount of muddiness in isolated

places, there was no sign of the deluge veiy shortly afterwa.-ds.

Matteiis soon righted themselves when the downpour eased off, but for a time it looked as if considerable damage might be done. The clay turned from rain to sunshine. Wellington Flood NEAR BASIN RESERVE. PEOPLE FORCED OUT OF HOUSES. WELLINGTON, August 16. Scenes without parallel in Wellington’s recent history were provided during the storm to-day, when a great volume of water collected from the flooded surfaces of lower Newtown, and swept down Adelaide Road, an-.l poured into Alfred Street, the lowestlying area in the vicinity of the Basin Reserve. The flood waters invaded the premises of the National Hat Mills, and forced the residents further down the street to vacate their homes. Women and children were carried through the water. At places it was well over 3ft deep. To find a cot in which her infant was sleeping floating around in nearly two feet of water in one of the bedrooms, was the experience ot one woman. The sudden rise ot the watei had caught her unawares, but the child was carried to safety, receiving no more harm than a thorough wetting. In their efforts to rescue household goods, both inside and outside of dwellings, manv women were often in the water above the waist. A cessation of the rain checked the rising waters, and in an hour from the time that the houses were vacated the City Council employees had freed the channels of debris, and water was getting away fast.