SLIPS AND WASH-OUTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18680, 9 April 1924, Page 10

SLIPS AND WASH-OUTS.

DAMAGE IN TAEANAKL WHANGAMOMONA ISOLATED. RAILWAYS DISORGANISED. TWO MONTHS TO CLEAR LINE [BT TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.) NEW PLYMOUTH. Tuesday. Slips and wash-outs block both ends of tho Whangamomona tunnel. Traffic on the Stratford-Tahora railway is suspended, and all roads leading to Whangamomona are blocked, the township being/completely isolated except for pedestrians. This briefly describes tho serious conditions caused by the floods in the district cast of Stratford. Some idea of the extensivo damage to the railway was gathered by a reporter who visited the locality yesterday. He states that while communication by road may be established within a week, no trains will be running further than Pohokura for at least two months. At Pohokura signs of the torrential rains were to be seen on all sides in the waterlogged paddocks and broken fences. For about two miles the creek had ovor flowed its banks and covered the mouth of the valley with silt and debris. Great holes wore washed in the b.'rfTast on the railway line. At every corner of its crooked course the stream Had thrown up great piles of driftwood, and quieter backwashes were marked by heaps of debris. At the Whanga Saddle thousands of feet of timber and hundreds of tons of soil were washed down the hillsides and deposited all over the floor of the valley, covering the railway to a height of 10ft. to 20ft. for half a mile, with great masses of twisted tree stumps bound together by silt and rubbish. At the junction of the two upper valleys the spoil excavated when the tunnel was first built was deposited, and this bank of papa kept back acrc3 of mud and frees which would otherwise have been carried on to add to the congestion.

The sides of hills -were loosened by tho water, and where the surface had not slipped on to the line great botes opened and threatened to send hundreds more tons hurling down on to the right-of-way. The concrete entrance of the tunnel was hopelessly broken, and through the crushed arch a glimpse of the havoc within could be gained from a point of vantage about 300 yds. away. It was quite impossible in the present state of the track to roach the tunnel without incurring grave personal risk, Both from being buried alive and from sinking in the quagmire. About 200 yds. from the tunnel a forest giant uprooted from the hill above had been flung right across the gully and stood upside down, a silent witness of the intensity of the | storm.

Beyond the tunnel four bridges have been rendered unsafe by the violence of the waters. In two cases the main piers have become warped and distorted from their position. Another bridge is said to have moved bodily sft., whilo the fourth is minus most of its supports, and requires considerable repairs to its under and superstructure. Word was received that even greater havoc had occurred on the Whanga side of the tunnel, where, it was stated, the line was blocked for a mile and a-half. Under the circumstances no one can forecast the condition of the 36 chains of tunnel or the amount of silt, rubbish and tree trunks which may have washed into it. The only way into Whanga is by foot over the Whanga Saddle, and Tor the trip one requires a pair of substantial gum boots.