HEAVY RAINFALL

Grey River Argus, 30 May 1938, Page 7

HEAVY RAINFALL

DAMAGE CAUSED In Rewanui District Heavy rains fell throughout the Grey Valley and at Rewanui on Saturday night, and it is thought that a deluge, experienced shortly after • midnight, was something in the nature of a cloudburst. Heavy rain also fell at Greymouth on Saturday and Saturday night. A total of 2.01 inches of rain was recorded for the 24'hours ending at 9 o’clock yesterday morning, but no damage was caused. There was a strong fresh in the Grey River yesterday morning, while the river was still running last evening at about nine knots.

Two bridges, spanning the Seven Mile Creek at Dunollie, were washed away, one at Castlepoint mine, and the other at Smith and Party’s co-operative mine, which are practically alongside each other. The deluge which swelled the creek also carried away ten out of eleven coal trucks, two of them being later located about three miles down the creek, almost at Rapahoe. Quantities of timber were washed up against the traffic bridge on the main Greymouth-Westport road at the Seven Mile, which caused the creek to overflow and partly wash out the approach on the Greymouth side. The road is negotiable, but motorists are advised to take care. It was thought that the flood waters had endangered the viaduct leading from the Middle Brake to the Liverpool mine mouth at Rewanui, but an inspection has revealed that no damage was caused to the structure. . Several slips of an extensive nature occurred on the railway line between Dunollie and Rewanui, and it is thought that it will be three or four days before the line is again open. The work of clearing the slips will commence to-day and meantime the Liverpool mine will be idle. There was extensive flooding on the Coal Creek Flat, and also at the Camp, several areas being inundated, and traffic was held up, with the result that a number of Runanga residents were forced to spend the night at Greymouth. Intent on getting home to Runanga, some people walk-, ed along the railway line from the Cobden bluff, and one of them received a good ducking and ruined a good suit when he went down between the sleepers, where a wash-out occurred near the Camp. A relief gang repaired this wash-out yesterday. There was still a considerable quantity of flood water in the vicinity of Coal Creek last night. Minor wash-outs occurred on the railway line between Stillwater and Ngahere, near Kamaka. These were repaired by a relief gang yesterday.