Trouble on Auckland Highway

Northern Advocate, 31 January 1939, Page 6

Trouble on Auckland Highway

Slips and floods made conditions difficult for travellers on the Whanga-rei-Auckland main highway last night. A series of slips occurred in the new cuttings on the Brynderwyn deviation between Waipu and Kaiwaka, and shortly after-8.30 this section was comblocked by a heavy fall of spoil, Subsequent traffic was forced to take the old route through the Waipu Gorge! There was a good deal of water flowing across the road this side of Ruakaka, while the road was again completely blocked at the Portland turnoff, where the tidal creek, swollen by the flood waters,'covered the bitumen to a depth of three feet. Wind and Baht s’ An exciting tale was told by a Whangarei. motorist who left Auckland at ft.3o last night,‘but did not reach his destination until 1 o’clock this morning. ■ • “I experienced heavy rain all the way, phcf' the wind “was blowing furiously,” he said. “On the more exposed portions of the Brynderwyn deviation the wind was blowing the rain parallel to the ground.” Dairy Flat Clear Dairy Flat, which had been flooded by tide waters yesterday afternoon, was clear when he passed through at about ;6.30 p.m., and there was no necessity for traffic to deviate through Port Albert as was the case earlier in the daiy. First, real trouble was encountered on the; Brynderwyn deviation, at least a dozen slips partially blocking the: road. The largest slip encountered by this driver’,had been about three-quarters of the w,ay through, a large fall of earth leaving barely sufficient room for his car toilpass. This was at 8.30. I* Deviation Blocked Five minutes later another driver encountered a larger fall in the same locality which completely blocked the highway, spreading right across the road 1;p a depth of five feet. This car and others were forced to turn back to Kaiwaka and continue via Maungaturoto and the Waipu Gorge. Water to a depth ot several inches was flowing across the road in several places on the high ground north of Ruakaka. * »• Trouble at Ruakaka The,first of these, just past the Ruakaka turn-off, the Whangarei driver had encountered unexpectedly, not anticipating flooding on that section of the road. Hehad struck the water when travelling at a fair speed, and sent a shower into the air which smothered the windscreen and caused him to almost lose control of the car. Other drivers met with similar trouble. Subsequent patches of water had been treated with more respect. In some places the flooding was of sufficient depth to cause trouble in the ignition systems of several vehicles. Serious Flooding The worst feature of the journey, however, was at the Portland turn-off, where the flood-water held up traffic for several hours. Reaching this locality at 9.15, the Whaugaret motorist ■ found about 30

cars blocked by water from the tidal creek extending for 100 yards to a depth of three or four feet.

It was two and a half hours before the water had receded sufficiently for traffic to proceed. ' Bathing Suits and Sunshades

In the meantime men were paddling around in bathing suits attempting to find the shallower portions of the flood. One gentleman was wading about with trousers rolled above the knees • and carrying a gaudy coloured sunshade as protection from the downpour. Several of the larger cars were pushed through the flood, but the majority, when they had negotiated the blockage, met trouble from water in their ignition systems.

Flooding is also reported on several of the side roads between Whangarei and Waipu. In the locality of the Mata bridge, adjacent to the main highway, a sideroad was flooded to a depth of eight feet. Dargaville Road Blocked. Traffic was blocked on the Darga-ville-Whangarei highway last night when the waters of the Northern Wairoa River covered the road to a depth of more than four feet at Taylor’s Flat. The road was, however, passable Ibis morning, although water was still lying almost two feet deep at that point. There was also a certain amount of water across the road at Penny’s Corner. The Whangarei-Kawakawa road has ndt been affected. The “Advocate” was advised at 2.30 this afternoon that cars are now getting through Taylor’s Flat.