GOOD FRIDAY'S RAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15885, 5 April 1915, Page 7

GOOD FRIDAY'S RAIN.

DAMAGE IN QUEEN STREET.

STATEMENT BY ENGINEER.

ONE INCH IN 25 MINUTES.

" Di'rim; one period of 25 minutes on Good Friday, an inch of rain foil in the city." This statement was made oil Saturday by tlio city engineer, Mr. W. E. Bush, and it explains to some extent the failure of the sewerage system to immediately cupe with the storm water, and the consequent flooding of many Queen Street cellars.

It was stated by Mr. Rush that such heavy rain would severely tax any system of sewerage. A special rain gauge, the property of the Auckland Drainage Hoard, recorded thai between 10.30 a.m. and 1, p.m. on Cloud Friday, over 2in of rain feLl in the city. It was during 25 minutes oi that period, that half this fall was experienced. The Auckland drainage system was designed to tope with a rainfall of an inch an hour, and this provided a geiieious margin tor anything but an abnormal rainfall. It was only to he expected, said Mr. Rush, that in Queen street the sewers would not- be able to immediately carry awav such a huge volume of water as was represented by a fall at the rate of over 2in an hour. The position would have been relieved somewhat if the Drainage Board's sewer had not been running full. Under ordinary circumstances, this sewer would have carried away some of the water which caused the damage in Queen Street. As far as the City Council was concerned, lie continued, the rain had caused no material damage. The streets, mainly owing to the effective use of tar, hud not suffered as greatly as he had expectedThe tram tracks, which were maintained by the Tramways Company, had, however, been considerably damaged in streets where the grade was high. "All the sewers seemed to be running freely," Mr. Bush concluded, "and an inspection at points where faults were likely to develop showed that there had apparently been no breakages." The damage occasioned by the rain was mainly confined to the flooding of cellars in Queen Street business premises. Profiting by the experience of former years, several business men took the precaution to clear their cellars of all perishable poods. In every ease, however, tilt proprietors of the businesses affected have been put to considerable inconvenience and expense in drying the cellars and removing the large quantity of silt and refuse, which had forced its way through the cellar-traps. The premises of John Court, Ltd., Appeared to have suffered considerable damago, a quantity of blankets being saturated with water. A large staff of men and boys were busily engaged on Saturday in pumping out the water and in endeavouring to dry the damaged goods. The firm of H. M. Smeeton, Ltd., was also amongst the victims of the rain. When Mr. Riach, manager, arrived on the scene on Friday morning, ho found the water 2ft high on the ground floor. The inrush of water, in this instance, was due to the downpipes not being sufficient to carry it off. An automatic pump was kept operating all day, and other effective measures were taken to reduce the amount of damage. A quantity of ironware was the onlv stock seriously affected by the inundation.