HOKITIKA RIVER CUTS NEW CHANNEL; ENDING FLOOD THREAT

Grey River Argus, 22 March 1947, Page 2

HOKITIKA RIVER CUTS NEW CHANNEL; ENDING FLOOD THREAT

The Hokitika River which has been gradually rising for the past week, reached its peak on Friday morning, when the tidal guage recorded 13 feet 4 inches, shortly after nine o’clock. The Harbourmaster at Hokitika (Mr G. Howe), said the sea during the night was very rough and hammered the sand bank into the river, considerably lowering its height.

The tidal waters had backed up as far as Lake Mahinapua a distance of seven miles, and nearby creeks had also backed up as far as the Ross Road. The main river was also exceptionally high near. Kanieri. The waters invaded the Hokitika aerodrome, blocked the town drainage system, and flooded the streets, neai the Regent Theatre.. The waters rose quickly at Renton and Co's buildings, near the Harbour Board buildings, and around into Sewell Street. Shortly after nine o’clock, the river broke through the bank at a point dead centre of the two training walls, and a second channel cut its way through just north of the main channel. Within an hour the main channel had deepened and was cutting out fast, so that the level of the flood waters in the town began to recede.

Commenting on the situation, the Harbourmaster said that once the main channel was cut to a sufficient depth, the channel that had been running along the north beach would choke ' off, and it appeared that this had already begun to take place. He had never 1 seen the river so high. It was almost level with the north training wall below the signal station, and at the main wharf was just 14 inches below the wharf plankings. It would have been much better for shipping had the flood water cut out in one main channel, he said, as the second channel had a tendency to reduce the flow in the main channel. The break came at the right time z and saved the lowlying parts of the town from serious flooding. It was fortunate that the drainage systems throughout the town were not affected. They would commence to give trouble, as they would not have been able to flush out with the tide. The local swimming baths could not be emptied this week because of the level of the river.

Mr D. S. Kennedy, Greymouth Harbour Board -Engineer, who had visited the scene of the flooding, said the formation was typical of the West Coast wherever severe drift and heavy seas ran together. The same formation bad been observed at Seven Mile, but this was naturally on a much smaller scale.