OTIRA, CLOUDBURST

Grey River Argus, 15 February 1938, Page 4

OTIRA, CLOUDBURST

RIVER BED RAISED t EIGHT FEET 5 Water Nearly Into Hotel ( BRIDGE DESTROYED. [Special to “Argus.”] OTIRA, February 15. Otira has just been visited oy a . cloudburst. From Bto 10 o’clock on Monday night, rain fell in torrents. The hills shed vast bodies of water into the Otira River above the new bridge, about a quarter of a mile above Otira. The effect of the flooding has been phenomenal upon the stream itself. The bed of the river at the bridge has been raised to the extent of between eight and ten feet. *i At Goat Creek, whither Constable . Gill, along with many residents, made his way during the downpour, which lasted a couple of hours, the scene .was startling. The boulders as they came hurtling down stream from the gorge roared like thunder, the rolling sounds reverberating down the gorge like the noise of heavy artillery. Rapidly rose the river-bed until the stones began piling upon tne new bridge, and then their level steadily rose until it reached a height of the top of the bridge railings. The damming up has raised the stream bottom for a distance of something like a couple of hundred yards. The weight of stone brought down must run into many thousands of tons. Evidently the flow of boulders originated up on the hillsides. Slips of large dimensions are likely to be revealed later in the morning after daylight. The bridge is nearly all covered over with stones, and the Otira Gorge road will be shut to traffic until a clearance is made and the bridge repaired. High as the river rose, there was another and an unusual torrent created, namely along the road. It was transformed into a river course by the rush of water from the heights. Otira and its immediate neighbourhood appears to have been the centre of the downpour. Water came roaring down the road until it rose at the Terminus Hotel to such a height that . men had to work hard in making barricades so as to prevent the hotel itself from being flooded out. The water rose above the level of the verandah floor, on which it left a heavy deposit of silt, but it was kept from invading the floor of the hotel. The township on the other side may also have had a flooding. A vast body of water travelled in the Otira River, so that flooding may occur further down. It was not possible last night to get across to the other side of the new bridge in order to investigate the situation there. Certainly Otira has no memory of so heavy a downpour before.