HEAVY DELUGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 18, 17 December 1938, Page 11

HEAVY DELUGE

SHOPS FLOODED. CHRISTCHURCH STORM. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Dec. 16. Accompanied by flashes of vivid lightning and loud peals of thunder, one of the heaviest deluges of rain the city has ever experienced fell in Christchurch to-day, causing serious damage to a few shops and minor damage to others. Drapery and department stores suffered most, and in some cases it will be several days before the actual loss can be estimated. The aggregate of damage in the city is expected to reach several thousands pounds. City streets in many areas were covered hv unbroken sheets of water, stormwater channels being unable to carry away the largo volume of water. Tint storm broke shortly aftersp.m., and within half an hour 68 points of rain had fallen. A surprising feature was that very few interruptions occurred in electric power services, the drainage system, and the tram service. There were failures in the main supply of electricity from Lake Coleridge because of tlie circuit-breakers being brought into operation by the lightning. The stoppage of electric power, however, was of only short duration, and the greatest inconvenience was caused by the tramway power-house .and main pumping station of the Christchurch Drainage B;iu'd. The sensitive alarm system at the pumping station responded to every flash of lightning, and the staff was kept busy on the switchboard. The main pumps, however, were stopped for only a few minutes, and the drainage was not affected by the largo volume of storm water. HEAVY DAMAGE. The damage caused in city shops was not because of flooding on the ground floors, but because the sudden deluge was preceded by a heavy fall of hail which blocked the downpipes on the building. The spouting quickly filled and overflowed through the ventilators of shop windows and down inside the walls. This experience was new to most of the business people, who, on other occasions, had been accustomed to dealing with minor leaks jn the roofs during heavy rain because of inadequacy of the down-piping. To-day the piping was put completely out of action by tho hail. The store which suffered most was that of Millers Ltd., in Lichfield Street. Here it is estimated that the damage will run into thousands of pounds. Bulk stores carrying large quantities of clothing and drapery in the upper part, of tho building were badly flooded. “Water simply injured in through the ceiling and though wo had practically all of our staff on the job, we were powerless to do anything at such ’ short notice,” said Mr L. D. Miller to-night. Considerable damage was also caused in the premises of Hays, Ltd., Dray-ton-Jones, Ltd., J. R. AlacKenzie, Ltd., Mac Duff’s, Ltd., Woolworths, Ltd., tlie D.1.C., Death and Co., Ltd., Ballantyne and Co., Ltd., Armstrong’s, Ltd., and Wliitcombo and Tombs. A FOOT DEEP. The scene in most parts of the city was a dismal one, the water in several places extending in unbroken sheets from footpath to footpath and in the lower levels it ran over the footpaths into shop entrances. About 6.30 p.m., ono and a-lmlf hours after the height of the downpour, water was lying in Colombo Street for several chains on either side of the Battersea Street intersection in a continuous . sheet to a maximum depth of 12 inches, on the footpaths from the corner of Cashel Street to tlie Bank of New Zealand. The average depth of the surface water was about 4in.

Alost of tho shops with entrances higher than the street level escaped the flooding, but the water entered the premises of Eniost Adams, Ltd., in Colombo Street and covered the floor to .si depth of about a foot. The damage was only slight, hut the shops had to he abandoned. The Sanitarium Health Food Company next door would have been in a similar plight, but the employees managed to barricade the doorway with sacks and keep the water out of tlie shop. Pedestrians were forced to wade in water nearly up to their knees in some places.

DOWNPOUR AT AUCKLAND. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Dee. 16. A sudden downpour of tropical intensity took shoppers in the city by surprise to-night. There was severe thunder and lightning, which caused some alarm. Pavements under shop verandahs were closely packed with people during the height of the storm.

A downpour of tropical intensity was experienced in Palmerston North at 5 o’clock yesterday, large numbers of shoppers being caught in the rain. The storm, which brought particularly heavy rain, gradually eased off, leaving a much clearer atmosphere: