NIGHT’S RAIN leaves No Flood Danger

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 156, 17 June 1936, Page 6

NIGHT’S RAIN leaves No Flood Danger

SURFACE WATER Inconvenience in Parts of Hastings TRANSPORT UNAFFECTED The intensely heavy rain last night and early this morning brought up the level of the rivers by several feet, but at noon today it did not appear that there was any danger of serious flooding. The new Tutaekuri diversion was functioning perfectly, and Rivers Board officials were not in the least anxious about the situation. The road over the Pukowhai bridge was quite impassable this morning, and there was a considerable depth of surface water on many stretches of road between Hastings and Napier. In the latter respect the Korokipo area was especially affected, owing to the overflowing of the Wuima stream. The Tutaekuri river had risen about three feet by ten o’clock, and the Ngaruroro about live feet at I’ernhill. EIVKJt BANKS INTACT. At noon to-day Mr C. Lassen, chairman of the Hawke’s Bay Rivers Board, stated that the rivers were running half full and the volume of water was being easily accommodated. All the banks were intact and the board had lost nothing as the result of the sudden rise in the rivers. As regards the diversion work, Mr Lassen said that a further rise of two or three feet in the Tutaekuri river would have been welcomed by the board, for it would have assisted very materially in the job of scouring the channel from where the river was diverted to the Washout. “Some very good scouring work is being done by the river at present,” he said, “and J anticipate that there will be a big saving to the board in connection with this work. The bank thrown across where we diverted the river and closed it off is standing up well and has not been damaged to the slightest degree.” Though there was considerable surface wrnter lying about in different localities, Mr Lassen said further that there was no sign of any flooding. The indications pointed, he said, to the waters in the rivers falling. The sharp break in the weather at ten o’clock enabled the water everywhere, both in the towns and along the country roads, to get clear, and by midday conditions were much more comfortable. The forecast predicted a gradual improvement.

CONDITION OF ROADS. Roads leading from Hawke’s Bay have not beeu closed by yesterday's heavy rains, hut many of them are in a poor condition, the greasy surface necessitating care in driving over them. The Napier-Gisborne road is clear, although reports of the service officers of tlm Hawke’s Bay Automobile Association indicate that the surface is sticky. Further than Gisborne, it is doubtful if light cars cau negotiate the roads, where heavier rain fell than near Napier Motorists are advised to inquire nt the Automobile Association office in Gisborne before proceeding on this route. Cars are experiencing little difficulty along the Napier-Wellington route. Just before noon the railway officials in Hastings reported that the Manawatu Gorge was clear again, and that, so far as they were able to judge, trains would be running up to schedule to-day. The railway bus service was not interrupted, and there was no flooding apart from surface water along sections of the road. The buses had not the slightest difficulty in negotiating it. HASTINGS SURFACE WATER. The night’s rain showed its effect in Hastings, where a good deal of flooding resulted from the uouTuuctioiuiig of sowers and from the accumulation of surface-water. A number of lawns aud gardens were under water, and will remain so for some time, and here auJ there parts of streets were deeply flooded. A few telephones were put out ot order, nut the Host Office officials report that the trouble is not serious nor at all extensive. A small house, occupied by Mr ami Mrs Horn and two children who are visiting them, and situated in Norton read south, was invaded by the waters The house is situated in a dip a little distance from Heretaunga street, and tho water had reached up to the iiou.se at an early hour this morning, At nine o’clock Mrs Horn and the two children were standing at a window of the bouse, and were asked by a man in a passing ear whether they were all right. Mrs Horn did not appear to want help, but answered that there wan a good deal of water in the house. A neighbouring farmer states that in the same dip is a tent occupied by an old man who hud not been seen all morning, but it is most likely that he had sought shelter elsewhere. The teal was completely surrounded. Up till about five o'clock this morning, at which hour much of the flooding cleared, several streets in the borough were almost completely under water, and at nine o’clock several sections of streets were deeply flooded. HOUSES ISOLATED. Su far as could be discovered bv a drive around a large area of the borough, the worst area wqs at the corner of Gray’s road and Fitzroy avenue, where the water had reached up to the verandahs of about a dozen houses. For some .yards in each direction from the intersection, the road and the footpaths were impassable on foot, and in the middle of the road the flood was about a foot or eighteen inches deep. At ti e corner of Wellwood street the conditions were very similar, and there was a depth of about a foot at the

street corner. A resident in that locality says that after lie had shaven this morning, and had released the water from the bathroom basin, he was surprised, to see the soap-suds floating un the water outside the house. Evidently the water was not getting into the sewer at all. One of the worst areas was In Karamu road near Frederick street, where several gardens were flooded, one of them to a depth of about two feet. It appeared that one small house would be flooded if the rain continued, but other residences seemed to be safe enough. The conditions were no worse than inconvenient and uncomfortable. A taxi-driver who did several runs in the early hours of this morning says thut between four o’clock and eight o’clock a good deal of water got away, and that at about four o’clock a number of streets were quite deeply flooded in some sections. A heavy thunderstorm broke over the Wairoa district from the northwest yesterday, followed by a fierce southerly storm, which still continues, with much rain, this morning’s reading being 5.61 inches.