PAEROA LUCKY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 60, Issue 4366, 8 December 1950, Page 5

PAEROA LUCKY

ESCAPE FROM FLOOD

INTERESTING FACTS

HAURAKI CATCHMENT BOARD

The country was extremely lucky in escaping, a heavy flood, said Mr D. G. McMillan at the November meeting of the Hauraki Catchment Board.

The flooding in Paeroa had nothing to do with the dhinemiiri river. Paeroa’s 1 flooded areas were the result of water received from the hills behind the town. Mir McMillan held the view thiat unless safeguarding measures were taken a major and disastrous flood would one day occur. Mr O. G. Thornton, district engineer, Hamilton, considered that certain factors operated to the avoidance of a major flood. All the major floods had occurred aftejr days lof 1 rain. He instanced 13 inches of rain which had caused one heavy flood whereas in the recent incident the rain fell all in a short period and much of it was fortunately absorbed into the ground.

Interesting details were given by Mr Geo. Davies, chief engineer, in his report to the meeting, which read as follows:—

“Paeroa suffered severely from water running off the hills and all the drainage districts between Paeroa and Thames together with the TirohiaRotokohu drainage area suffered considerable damage to pasture. The height of the flood at Thames was about one inch bel6w that of 1946 and apart from covering the flats and a. quarter of a mile of the highway to the south, a large area of\the residential area was inundated and householders marooned on their premises. “The heavy rains brought with the easterly gale of November 19 and 20 caused heavy flooding from the Waihou river in Te Aroha, from the hill streams from Te Aroha to Thames and from the Kaueranga river in Thames.

“The rain was heaviest apparently in the catchments of the Kauaeranga and the Ohinemuri rivers. The, approximate rainfalls in both Waihi and Paeroa was seven inches in the 24 hours ending at 9 a.m. on November 20. The figure for Te Aroha for the same period was 3.49 inches, and that for Thames was 5.06 inches. The rainfall fell off southward from Te Aroha with very little flooding from the hills opposite Matamata. “The heavy fall at Te Aroha brought the river up quickly and the areas usually flooded were quickly inundated down as far as Mangaiti bridge. The river flowed fairly normally from there onwards giving a discharge of 2500 cusecs at Tirohia bridge, a distance of 6J miles downstream.

“The Ohinemuri on the other hand carried a heavy load of about 9000 to 10,000 cusecs from l rough calculations and water rose in the river channel near Paeroa a height of 23 feet in 12 hours reaching its maximum height at 11.45 a.m. on November 20. The flood water was then just over four feet below the top of the stopbank. ' ‘

He would like to dispel rumours which had been current in Paeroa during the time of the flood, said ■Mr'' H. R. Thorp. It was to him a question as to who was (going to make the decision between the town and the country.. Was a decision to be imade by a man or was it to be left as an aidt of (God? Hie had discussed the matter of the blowing of the stopbank with the engineers and had been advised ' that no such act had even been contemplated and could not be done except with definite instructions from the Ministry of Works, Wellington.