TORRENTIAL RAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18381, 23 April 1923, Page 8

TORRENTIAL RAIN.

PAEROA FEELS STORM.

TRAIN TRAFFIC SUSPENDED.

. WHARF SHEDS FLOODED. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] PAEROA, Saturday. The storm which had been raging for 36 hours continued during last night when the wind reached hurricane force, accompanied by torrential rain. About 2 a.m. the gale dropped, and was .followed by a. terrific thunderstorm. The rain simply came down in sheets. This morning the river had overflowed its banks in ;several places. Tho settlers had great difficulty in rescuing stock, and several houses had a couple of feet of water in them. \ . The railway traffic is all suspended. The line between Komata and Thames is under water, and it is believed that a bridge near Wharepoa t has'- been partly carried away. A large slip is reported on the Komata Reefs road. The Ohinemuri County Council recently put in a number of large culverts on the Paeroa-Hikutaia road, and the force of the water running off the hills has carried away the earth and stone > filling around the culverts, .making the road impassable. At Tirohia a culvert has been washed in and a long stretch of the Paeroa-Te Aroha Toad is flooded several feet deep. " The effect of "the recently-erected stopbank on the western side of • the Ohinemuri River toward Karangahake has caused the river to overflow and submerge a large extent of country on the opposite bank. ' The settlers in that area have repeatedly protested to the Minister for Public Works against one side only of the river being stop-banked. They contended that they would suffer , considerably as a- direct result of the erection of a stop-bank on one side of ' the river. The scene of ' the locality to-day gives an ocular demonstration of the soundness of their contentions. , ' The Pereniki Bend settlers are also suffering from the effects of having additional flood water diverted on 'to ; their farms. Large areas of land, which have in previous floods been inundated, are. however, this time reaping the benefit of the operations of the /Public Works Department. : ■• * At 9 a.m. the weather lifted, and a couple of hours later the flood quickly began to recede. By noon the water had dropped several feet. The town of Paeroa this time suffered very little from the flood, thanks to the river stop-banks \ and general river 'improvements. The Northern Company's Wharf and sheds at the Puke were flooded out, there being . about 3ft. of water in the sheds. About 90 tons of cargo was in the sheds, but precautions were taken yesterday and the cargo was stacked off the floor. _ ...•.;:•■'•' •'- The steamer Taniwha, which arrived from Auckland yesterday, was unable to discharge her ', cargo. She cannot be unloaded until the wharf is , free from flood. The Publio Works rain gauge registers a rainfall of 7£in. since Thursday at 2 p.m. '•".' ■ - ■'•.• i■" -■> ■'.