A SECOND FLOOD THE COLYTON DISTRICT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 121, 22 April 1938, Page 6

A SECOND FLOOD

THE COLYTON DISTRICT.

POHANGINA TOWNSHIP SUFFERS AVATER SAVEEPS THROUGH VILLAGE. MUCH DAAIAGE DONE. Not within the history of the Pohangina township has there been a flood like that which, yesterday afternoon, swept from the nearby hills and, racing toward the broad river 'flats of the valley bottom, formed torrents across paddocks and a minor river past the County Council offices, threatened the main road and deposited silt over a large area in the northern part of the settlement. Rising relatively suddenly as the waters gathered weight on meeting in the main channels from the hillsides, the flood reached record dimensions and proved far worse, in the Pohangina township itself, than that which only last Friday night and Saturday morning wrought so much damage on the Te Awa and Coulter's Line Roads.

Nestling between two prominences, about a mile apart, which jut into the wide Pohangina River A r alley, the township is on the western side. The main road, known as the Pohangina Township Road, runs more or less equidistant between the river and the lulls to the west, which iorm a long arm dividing the valley from the Kiwitea and Colyton districts. The flood of last week visited the Feeding side of the hills, but that of yesterday, brought from the Ruahine Ranges (to the east), struck the Pohangina side of the divide and flowed back to the waterway formed by the river. VERY HEAVY FALL. AA 7 hile the rain in the township itself was steady from very early afternoon, it was not of such ihtensity as to cause any alarm, and local opinion was firm in the belief that the top of the ridge formed by the hills must have been visited by an exceptional fall, approaching the volume of a cloudburst. While the grade from the foot of the hills to the main road is in no way steep, it lias enough fall to give a volume of water considerable pace and power to scour extensively once the grass-roots and more settled earth at the surface have been eaten through. The engineer of the Pohangina County Council (Air D. AA’atson) explained to a “Standard” reporter that the general composition of the hills at the rear of the township is sandy, and the silt which the flood left fully bore out that view. It was localise of this fact that the flood last week caused such extensive damage where the water commenced to scour.

Heavy rain was experienced in Pohangina at about 2 p.m. yesterday aiternoon, and half an hour later it was evident that the hills, being already fully saturated, were rapidly shedding the fall to the lower levels. The first indication of the seriousness of the flood was to be seen in wide streams of water, like brown and silver sheets, pouring down the hilly land owned at the rear of the settlement by Air J. Aloar. The water had to advance over about a quarter of a mile of pasture to reach the main road, but a creek which runs under the road several hundred yards beyond the hall, commonly known as the Pohangina township creek (and its passage under the road as Klink’s culvert) was seen to be running bank high and rising fast. Eighteen feet deep, the stream expands to about 40 feet or more at the top. AAHiere the water was at one time taken under the road with a 4ft. square culvert, there is now a 9ft. square culvert. AIAIN ROAD THREATENED.

Logs up to 30ft and 40ft. long were scoured from the earth along the banks of this creek by last week’s flood and were brought bumping and rolling to the upper side of the culvert. Serious danger threatened in that, should the culvert become blocked by the mass of timber the waters would flow over the road and, once they had cut through the stratum of metal, the destruction of the foundations of the highway (which is one of the two arterial roads for traffic up and down the valley) would have been completed in very short time owing to the sandy nature of the country. Gel ignite and axes had been used on the tangled logs after the flood of last week in an endeavour to break up the larger timber and allow it to pass through the culvert and so avert any future danger, but yesterday’s flood brought the floating mass up again from the bottom of the stream practically to level. Silt on the roadwav showed that for a period the water had flowed across on the last occasion, and fears were held yesterday that the floating timber might, choke the mouth of the culvert. To add to the danger, a tall macrocarpa tree, standing only a chain or so from the road, was being' steadily undercut by the racing torrent. Swaying, and developing a more decided lean across the stream, the tree appeared to be about to fall, the 30ft. span of the roots, with their accompanying mass of earth being a decided menace. Until the worst of the flood had passed, between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., the tree remained in position. A wire hawser was then secured to the upper section and a four-ton tractor took the strain and was braked securely some distance away in an effort to assist the tree to remain upright. The tractor had been brought front the upper section of the county, 30 miles away, to haul the logs away from the culvert. While the waters of the creek rose the torrent from the hillside increased and another culvert, closer to the hall, proved totally inadequate to the demands placed on it. The brown water spread across the paddock at the top of the road and eventually swept over the highway in a spillway over two chains wide and about a foot deep. WATER FROM FINNIS TRACK. It then became evident that the 6tream debouching on the smaller culvert was carrying more than it should and it was found that a considerable portion was coming from Finnis Track, an extension of Moa Road, which leaves the main highway at the hall and runs straight past the county offices to enter a defined V-shaped valley in the hills at the back of the township. The valley has a wide catchment area extending right to the summit of the range, and the full result of the rainfall was not evident until the water had reached the open after ploughing its way down the stream bed. Emerging just above the school-house, the waters forsook a culvert under the road and turned by the front hedge of the house section to run across the road instead of down to the school, poured in the direction of Mrs D. A. Wills’s homestead, crossing just above the house in-their rush toward the culvert under the main road below. Where half an hour before there had been a clear road up which the reporter had intended to travel to view the damage at To Awa, there was a torrent. Debris piled against the roadside

fence and formed a weir to guide th« water down Moa Itoad, which w.as covered at various points. A car pulled up on the side of the road opposite the hall was caught in the rising waters and had the' self-starter put out of action. So heavy was the water pressure that when the brake was released the car was pushed, with the aid of matted debris in front, practically back on to the crown of the road. In less than half an hour the quarter mile or so of Moa Road was littered with wood gathered by the waters and covered with silt. PILES OF SILT. .AA'orst among the damage, however, was that brought about at Airs AV ills s residence. The stream of water which crossed Aloa Street and was not turned aside by the matted material against the fence continued beyond the rear of the residence and piled silt on the accumulation alreadv left by the visitation of last week. In all several acres of first-class land were covered to a height which reached, here and there, to half as high as the fences. A section of the fence enclosing the house was swept away; the garden was left feet deep in the brown loamy sand at its lower points, and the newly-made stream cut a channel across the paddock. . Remains of an old car were left in an expanse of loam which reached to the hubs of the wheels, and the silt was so deep and soft that a venturer in thigh boots found it expedient to follow the fence lines in case he should require a helping hand from the wires. , “I have lived here 40 years ana have never seen anything like it,” said Airs E. J. AA 7 ildbore in looking at the expanse of silt covering a section ot her property. Others who have lived in the locality for similarly long periods averred that it was the worst flood which had been experienced there since the settlement of the township. Evidence of the heavy rain in the hills was also seen at a lower point m the Pohangina Aralley, where a stream running in the bottom of a deep gorge next Mr AA 7 . Howell’s residence speedily rose to beyond its previous record height. The waterway passes under the main road just before the highway rises on a hill after traversing the flat north of Raumai. Yesterday the flood went over the road. The flood waters also followed the road down to the flat, not all crossing toward the Pohangina River immediateately. Proceeding along the flat they reached the residence of Air E. Leamy, who was absent with Airs Leamy at the time, and only subsided just when, they were about to lap on to the floor of the dwelling. OYER £2OOO DAAIAGE.

AA r ith the phenomenal fall of Friday night the county engineer had to cancel a holiday he was spending at Paraparaumu, and return post-haste to undertake measures for the restoration of road communication. A _ Government grant is being sought, it is understood, for assistance in repairing the damage on the Te Awa Road, which was reported in last evening’s issue of the “Standard,” and Air Watson said yesterday that he would estimate the total damage, in round figures, at easily £2OOO. There had been many wash-outs, and workmen had been hurriedly called to the more pressing points where temporary relief could be given. In the case of the Te Awa Road bridge, however, a totally new structure would be required as the one abutment had been scoured completely away. On the Pohangina Township Road to Ngaputahi, about six miles north of the township, there had been much damage done and the road had been blocked for a period by the slips, until they were cleared at the week-end. AA’ork had been carried on since Saturday. AA'ater tables, blocked by small falls of earth, had sent their water on to the roads where it had scoured off the surface at hundreds of points and indications were, yesterday, that there will be a very considerable extension of that damage as a result of the second downpour. THE SCENE THIS AIORNING. AVhile rain was falling in the hills about Pohangina this morning it was only light, and none was falling in the township. The extent of the damage was shown fully with the absence of the flood waters. All the metal had been washed off the road running down from Finnis Track past the County Council offices to the main highway. Finnis Track itself was open, although damaged by water, the main volume having come down the valley below the road. The macrocarpa tree which had threatened to fall into the stream under the highway was understood to be still standing and every attention was being given to the roads and culverts which were damaged in the two visitations.

SLIPS BLOCK ROADS. There is a big slip on the school hill at Waiata completely blocking the road. Traffic to points above the Waiata School is required to proceed via Valley Road and Zig Zag Road. The water flooded over Valley Road and has left the metal badly cut up, but cars can get through with care. There is another slip on Zig Zag Road, hut up to 7 o’clock last night it was just possible to get past. The Pohangina track from Zig Zag Road is blocked. HEAVY THUNDERSTORM. In the Colvton district yesterday - afternoon the peals of thunder were such that the settlers were caused no little alarm. There was a torrential downpour, which resulted in considerable local flooding, some evidence of ’i the rainfall being provided in the fact that the Mangaone Stream at Bunnythorpe rose 16ft in less than three hours. Remarkably enough, there was littlo rain of any consequence in the Bunnytliorpe area'itself, and the Mangaone Stream was the only waterway which became flooded. Although the storm at Colyton had occurred at 2 o’clock, the Mangaone Stream at Bunnythorpe was still little more than ankle deep at 6 o’clock; yet by 8.4.3 it had risen 16 feet and the water was over the road to a depth of from a foot to 18 inches and inundating the surrounding land. The stream continued to rise until about 9 o’clock, but after that it began to subside, the road being clear at 11 o’clock, with only the low-lying land still under water.