SERIOUS FLOODS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22145, 26 June 1935, Page 12

SERIOUS FLOODS

BAY OF PLENTY AREAS pANGITAIKI PLAINS SUFFER FARMERS' ANXIOUS TIME SOME MOTORISTS MAROONED [bt telegraph —OWN correspondent] WHAKATANE. Tuesday Serious flooding has occurred in many pnrts of the district as tho result of the heavy rain. Largo areas in tho Ticinity of the Rangitaiki River are under water and farmers have had an anxious time keeping their stock on dry land. The Rangitaiki River overflowed its banks near Edgecumbe, flooding areas on the eastern bank side last night. A great volume of water is still coming down the river and causing considerable concern. Work was suspended at the Rangitaiki Plains dairy factory at Edgecumbe to-day ou account of the water flooding the factory to a depth ol' nino inches. It is expected that operations 'will be resumed to-morrow. Tho water ■was cleared from tho factory this after-

noon. Many farmers have suffered and the Poroporo district is practically under water. The Whakatane River flowed on to the road near the Whakatane Bridge and several cars, including tho service car, were marooned during the night. Breakdown cars had a busy time this morning towing them to dry land. It is reported that there is eight feet of water on the Wliakatane-Taneatua y Road. Conditions would have been more serious round. Edgecumbe and Thornton but for tho fact that tho Lands Department has been able to finish the work of straightening tho Rangitaiki River at Thornton, which enabled the waters to get away more easily. Heavy rain has fallen in Galatea and conditions there are worse than during other floods in the past five years. TRAFFIC TO ROTORUA DISLOCATION OF SERVICES ; [bv telegraph—own correspondent] ROTORUA, Tuesday With the barometer at ono time as low as 28.80 in. Rotorua has experienced a week of exceptionally bad weather. Torrential rain has fallen, resulting to-day in the most serious dislocation of traffic between Rotorua and the East Coast known for a number of years. Service cars from Whakatane this afternoon were pilotod through water rising to 2} feet above the road. At Te Teko the flood earlier in the dav rose to four feet above the road level. There is little prospect at present of normal services being resumed for at least two days. The rainfall in the Urewera country has been of' phenomenal intensity. All , roads in the Rotorua County remained open, but for several days there has been an almost complete disappearance of private cars, a limited number only having reached Rotorua. ROADS TO GISBORNE POSITION STILL DIFFICULT (■Tbt telegraph—own correspondent] GISBORNE, Tuesday The slips, which interrupted communication on the main northern highway in the Waioeka Valley yesterday continued to present an obstacle to through traffic this morning but it was expected that the route would be clear by this fcfternoon and that tho afternoon car from -the North would be able to come through to Gisborne without trouble. On the East Coast Road slight flooding was reported yesterday from a point near Ruatoria as a result of the heavy and continuous rain, but the Gisborne service car got through last night to Ruatoria and returned this morning to town, the driver experiencing no real difficulty in negotiating the section on which the flooding had taken place earlier.