FLOODS IN WAIROA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8738, 21 May 1914, Page 5

FLOODS IN WAIROA

HARBOUR WALL DOWN 0 AM-AGE ESTIMATED AT £90,000. Press Association. WAIRUA, May 19, 3.10 p.m. There are unconfirmed reports that tie VVaikari traffic bridge, erected by the Public Works Department on the i.Napier-Wairoa road, is gone. Tine total estimated county flood! damage is over £90,000. Tho river at last has had its way, Bad broken, down one of the harbour li alls, causing a gap of some 600 feet i,i length through the crown of the (Eastern wall inside the estuary. _ The [breach occurred during tho night, }» nun the flood was at its highest, (hsfc.iarginig—Mr Reynolds estimates —in the neighbourhood of 15,000,000 cubic fret per minute. Tho water overi/ppirvg tho wall made a rush for the {agoon behind, thus causing a breach. As instancing the severity of the flood, and its dangerous potentialities, Ihe velocity at tho works was from 2-J to 30 feet per second, equal to from seventeen to twenty miles per hour. [At tho town front it was 15 feet per Second. : [This message was delayed in transmission owing to lino interruptions.] BRIDGES SAFE. AVAIROA, May 20. The weather is now clearing and It ho rivers have been falling slowly isinco Sunday. I Up the Waikare-moana road 2963 inoints of rain fell. Tho Wairoa rose 120 ft, but the bridges on the route lore safe. Tho Mohaka bridge, which is a valu'iblo one, stood tho groat strain. The (river fell Bft last night. | In tho Nuhaka and Morere districts little or no damage was done. 1 NAPIER, May 20. ( All tho rivers in 'Hawke’s Bay arc 'rapidly subsiding. No material damiago has been, reported, other than at j Wairoa. WATERS SUBSIDED AT GISBORNE. GISBORNE, May 20. The weather has now cleared, and the flood waters have subsided. , The total rainfall at Gisborne since Saturday is 8.03m1, and for the month 12.03 m. Railway traffic is still suspended.