Widespread Floods

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIV, Issue 277, 3 November 1924, Page 3

Widespread Floods

Roads and Railway sßlocked SLIPS IN THE RIMUTAKAS. BRIDGES DAMAGED. (Per Press Association.) Wellington, Nov. 2. The heavy rain which commenced at Cross Creek in the early hours oi Thursday morning continued until today, when it abated. The weather was responsible for a large volume of water in the low lying land in and around Pigeon Bush. A settler who has known the locality for 36 years states that he has never seen Wilkinson’s creek so high at Pigeon Bush. A wooden bridge giving road access to Cross Creek was washed away south of the railway station. A railway bridge opposite was damaged at its approaches and trains had to pass over it at a slow pace. The concrete approaches to the road bridge appear to have also gone with the wild rush of water. A gang of workmen is watching the railway bridge and effecting repairs. There have been slips on both sides of the Rimutaka railway line. The department is maintaining its. northern time-table by running trains out from Cross Creek. Passengers for Wellington were held at Cross Creek, but the department got them through. The roads are al set blocked. A later message states that there were heavy slips at the summit of the Rimutakas and Cross Creek. The line is clear on the Wellington side to the Summit. Through traffic ceased on Friday’’night and no trains have been through yet. It is unlikely that the line will be clear for traffic tomorrow. It cannot yet be ascertained if it will be possible to tranship passengers across the slips. The rain was exceedingly heavy, causing several washouts and slips. Officials think there must have been a cloudburst. Railway gangs are at work, and these will be suuplemented to-morrow. At 5 o’clock to-night it was reported that the rain had ceased, and that no further slips were probable. There have been slips for over 100 yards on the Rimutaka' hill between Kaitoke and the Summit and the road is impassable to motor traffic and is likely to remain closed for three days while being cleared. DAMAGE 7N WAIRARAPA. Masterton, Nov. 2. Heavy rainfall and extensive flooding of rivers have been experienced in Wairarapa since Thursday. Road and rail communication with Wellington were both blocked by slips. The floods accounted for considerable losses of sheep jtiiich were just recently shorn. Newly sown crops were also affected. The rivers have now subsided and there are prospects of the weather breaking. Six inches of rain have fallen since Thursday. The Waingawa river, from which the Masterton water supply is drawn, altered its course and the pipe-line was in danger of complete isolation. It is understood the damage is considerable in South Wairarapa. MANAWATU IN HIGH FLOOD. DIVERSION~OF THE RIVER. Palmerston N., Nov. 2. Owing to heavy rains in southern Hawke’s Bay and locally the Manawatu river rose feet above normal, the water reaching within a foot of the banks, and in one place south of Palmerston North, actually overflowing on Saturday night, eroding five acres of ploughed land. The erosion constitutes a new problem on account of the river having scoured a new channel opposite the lowest part of the, town. It is. expected the greater part of the river will flow through and and may eventually become a danger to this district, which includes the golf links, unless the River Board’s programme, now in progress, is carried through soon. The river was subsiding this afternoon, but the floods will certainly affect Shannon and the Makerua flaxmilling area, causing a cessation of milling. HIGHEST FLOODS FOR TWENTY YEARS. Woodville, Nov. 3. Tho Manawatu river and its tributaries were on Saturday in the highest flood for over 20 years, running bank to bank. All lowlying parts were inundated. Under two inches q>f rain fell here, but tho fall was greater on tho ranges* Some stock was lost. The rivers are going down. FOXTON ISOLATED. Foxton, Nov. 3. Flood waters of the Manawatu river cut off road communication from Foxton to Shannon and Levin. A span of tho Shannon bridge was washed away. The loss to flaxmillers is fairly considerable. Several breaks in stop banks let the water over the Moutoa roads. The loss of stock is trifling. About a mile and a half of the railway line on the Foxton-Palmerston line is under water, and the service is temporarily suspended. BAD TIME IN MARLBOROUGH. A PHENOMENAL DOWNPOUR. RAILWAY DISASTER NARROWLk AVERTED. Blenheim, Nov. 2. Extraordinary rain fell all over Marlborough trom Thursday afternoon until yesterday afternoon, the gauge registering as mucli as 16.96 inches in Picton and 10.5 inches at Flaxbourne. The fall in and round Blenheim, was between three and lour inches. All rivers and streams were in heavy flood, and there was an anxious time in Blenheim on account of the swollen state of the Taylor, but the protective works stood well, and no damage was done in the town, though the flooding of a ditch in the vicinity oi the bank section inundated several sections. The flooding of Fairhall stream and Doctor’s creek caused a number of farms in that locality to be inundated and some small area of crops were damaged. The overflow of the Para swamp and tho Tuamarina creek, about eight miles from Blenheim on the road to Picton, caused a number of farms on the lowlying land round Tuamarina. to be deeply flooded, houses being invaded by the water. Some of the settlers were rescued in boats. Small areas of crops in this locality were also affected. There were a number of landslides at Picton, but no damage of a serious nature was done. There were also numerous landslides round Port Underwood, but without serious effect. A train whicu left Blenheim last evening for Ward narrowly escaped an awful disaster. One of the niers of the bridge over Seventeen creek, about four miles south of Blenheim, had been undermined by the swift current in the stream and after the train crossed the bridge the structure buckled, the train being thrown off the line. Tlie engine plunged down a bank nine feet Tiigli and now lies at right angles to the track. A passenger carriage was derailed and a second carriage was partly derailed. There were only four passengers in the train, all in the carriage which was only partly derailed, and all escaped unscathed, as did tho crew of the train. It was fortunate that the train had actually negotiated tho bridge and reached the solid permanent way before it was derailed or it would have plunged in to the creek fourteen feet below. Though there have been some losses of small areas of crops round Fairhall

and Tuamarina, and though it is reported that some individual losses of newly-shorn sheep on account of the | cold will be the rain generally is welcomed and will have a beneficial effect on the district. FLOODS IN CANTERBURY. ESCAPE FROM BIG FLOOD. TIMELY CESSATION OF RAIN. Christchurch, Nov. 3. Had tho ram not ceased early on Sunday, morning there would have been serious floods in Canterbury. As things are the Leithfield township bears some slight scars. When the Kowai river overflowed at 11 o’clock on Saturday night the water made its way down the main road in a broad stream. Several houses were threatened with a watery invasion reminiscent of the May floods, but nothing very serious occurred. In a few houses the water entered some of the many vegetable gardens were temporarily Submerged. Great expedition was displayed in lifting carpets and other floor coverings, but much of this labour was wasted effort, as the flood went down as suddenly as it rose, the damage done was slight. At Sefton, silt was deposited on several farms. The potato crops have been most unfortunate in this respect. TWO TOWNSHIPS SUFFER. Christchurch, Nov. 2. The Kowai river overflowed its banks on Saturday night. The water ran through Leithfield township and several farms were inundated. The township of Sefton also suffered and considerable damage was done by silt. Potato crops suffered severely. A considerable area of land near Kaiapoi was flooded.