FLOODED RIVERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 6 August 1945, Page 4

FLOODED RIVERS

PERSISTENT WET WEATHER MINOR SLIPS ON TAKAKA HILL TRAFFIC HELD UP AT APPLEBY AND CANVASTOWN Persistent rain during the past three days caused the flooding of rivers in ' the Nelson district during the weekend. The Waimea river rose during Friday night and the road was blocked at the Appleby bridge from early on Saturday morning until early o n Sunday morning. After running bank high all day yesterday the river flowed over the road again this morning and at 7 a.m. to -day there was over a'foot of water across the highway. Although some trucks and one service car had managed to get through there was still no sign of the flood subsiding at 10 a.m. At Brightwater the river came over the road on Saturday afternoon but it was not sufficiently high to stop traffic. The sodden nature of the ground after the continuous rain resulted in a number of minor slips on the Takaka hill road. One fall of spoil near Sand Gully held up traffic until 5 p.m. on Saturday. The service cars from Takaka and Nelson on Saturday proceeded as far as the slip where passengers were transferred and the cars then returned. Floods at Canvastown made it necessary for cars coming from Blenheim and Christchurch on Saturday to travel via the Tophouse road: however, traffic yesterday and to-day was able to take the normal route. In Nelson the Maitai river overflowed its banks on Saturday afternoon but subsided again fairly rapidly, although still remaining in high flood. Early yesterday morning Nelson was blanketed in an unusually thick fog. The poor visibility delayed the arrival of the ferry steamer from Wellington. The vessel waited outside the Boulder Bank for some time until by 9.30 o’clock the fog had lifted sufficiently for her to proceed safely through the entrance to the harbour. During the first five days of August Nelson’s rainfall has amounted to 3.92 inches, a total of 1.07 inches having fallen yesterday and .70 of a n inch on Saturday. During the same period only 1 hour 44 minutes’ bright sunshine has been recorded.