THE WEATHER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6385, 31 July 1882, Page 2

THE WEATHER.

Alter a short interval »aly of fair weather, indications of a coming change were observable on FvWay, aiid during that night some littfe *'«tfn t ell x and heavy weather leemed threatening from the north-west. By Saturday morning the rain had fairly set in, and it continued a steady downpowr throughout the entire day and the greater part of the night, the fall, wing so heavy as to cause no small uneasiness, as to possible damage by floods. These apprehensions were partially justified, as the floodwater. which, rapidly collected did some little damage at various places in the city anoi suburbs.

The flow of water down Rattray street very shortly after it commenced to rain in the morning was very rapid, and the force of itsdescent carried it past the opening into the sewer at Messrs North and Scoullar's comer across Maelaggan street. As there was some danger of it overflowing the footpath and flooding tho cellars of shops in Rattray street, the Corporation employes adjusted bags of sand in such a position as to turn it into its. proper channel.

As is usually the case when there is any exceptionally bad weather, the residents of many portions of South Dwneddn and St. Kildn. had to suffer the inconvenience of a flood. There was a tremendous flow of water from Caversham, and as it was higb water at Dunedin about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Cargili road drain proved1 unequal to tho task ef carrying off the waloi\ To add to the dilemma, the culvert a,t the comer of David street and the Cargili road became blocked, and a vast E^nounJ; of water rushod alonej the latter thoroughfare to. South Dunedin side. Tho tramcars continued to run to Caverslianty . travelling through about a foot of water at the end of the Cargill roadi, until about 5 o'clock, but at that tune omnibuses had to bo put on by.- Mr Proudfoot to carry passengers over the flooded portion of the road. As thetide receded, the water of courso began to be gradually carried' off, and yesterday the Cargill road was quito passable. The low-lying kn,d from Darley to. the Government workshops, however, still continued to be under water of an appreciable denHi, and several paddocks in St. Kilda were to be seen in the sam« condition yesterday. W.e also learn that a landslip nearly buried the- houses of Mr H. Fox and Mr Pl. Roberts in Peter street, Caversham. It is stated in one quarter thfcfc tho water from the main road had1 by some means been diverted into tho grounds of the aboxementioned, residents. Mr I'ox appears

to have suffered very severely, as, in addition to the damage done to his property, which he estimates at over £100, his family narrowly escaped injury, and had to vacate tho premises at about 1 o'clock on Sunday morning. Mr Roberts' house was also so nearly carried away that tho family had likewise to make a hurriod escape. At the northern end of tho town far less mischiof has occurred than might have been anticipated. The Leith was of courso considerably swollen, and many of tho public thoroughfares were partially under water, not, however, to such an extent as to impedo traffic. The most serious complaints aro on the part of householders who have had their cellars or basements partially inundated ; but little real damage resulted in any case. At Lindsay s bridge the water rose threo or four inches above the roadway, and tho last tram on Saturday night was tillable to get through. The Water-of-Leith bridge also was covered with water almost to the orown. Another result has been that serious Hoods have occurred in some parts of the Taiori and Tokoinairiro districts, and a good deal of damage to tho railways throughout the southern parts of the province. At this time of the year it is not likely that any very great, damage will be done to property, but in most places all agricultural operations will have to be suspended for a week, or perhaps a fortnight. On Saturday afternoon the rain was exceptionally heavy, and tho Invercargill express had some difficulty in reaching town. The water was running over tho railway-line m the vicinity of tho Milburn station, and all the streams along the way were much swollen. At Henley the Taieri River was running bank-high. Farther along in the direction of Mosgiel the line was submerged iv several places; and once, while passing over an inundated portion of the line, the carriages' bumped heavily as if about to leave the metals. Most of the passengers were of course considerably alarmed; but their fears wore soon allayed, for the train at once slackened speed, and passing »ver the dangerous portion of the way, reached Mosgiel station at about the usual time. Here, however, another surprise awaited the passengers, who were, alter delay of about a-quarter of an hour, informed that a serious slip, had occurred at the south end of the Cham Hills tunnel This slip occurred immediately after the 0.10 p in tram from Mosgiel entered tho tunnel, and tho train had a very narrow escape, lor tunately tho accident was noticed by the othcials on board, and a halt was at once made to ascertain the nature and extent of the slip. Ihe traiu from Dunedin thus received timely warnin", and instead of rushing into the debris which had fallen over the mason work at the entrance, it was brought to a standstill in tho middle of the tunnel. Upon a further inspection, it was decided that it would be dangerous to proceed farther, and the traiu and passengers— with the exception of one who walked on to j\loa"iel-remained in the tunnel for several hours. At Mosgiel, the express tram passengers were just beginning to got heartily sick ot their long, dreary wait, when the stationmaster intimated that it had beon decided to proceed as far as the scone of the accident, and that the portion of the lino where the stulf had fallen and tho tunnel would have' to bo traversed on foot, so as to reach the train on the other side. The hopes that were buoyed up by this piece of information were, however, a^ain lowered to zero by a further intimation, this time to ihe effect that the cutting was still slipping, and that it was considered dangerous for the passengers to walk through. A ganger and two other men who were quickly on the scene, after a good deal of trouble managed to clear the rails, and tho train from Dunediu, which had remained stationary in the tunnel so long, was enabled to proceed to" Mos°iel. The Invercargill train then camo along, and reached town _ shortly after 11 o'clock—four hours behind time. At Pukeiviti, on the Northern line, a landslip of considerable extent occurred. It will be cleared away by to-day. Between Clarksville and Milton a good deal of daiMige has been done to the line, winch was flooded for a considerable distance. The Lawrence branch line has suffered a o-ood deal, and the Saturday afternoon train from Milton was, is consequence of a couple of alips stopped at Johnston, and did not reach Lawrence till 5 o'clock last evening. On Saturday the" Waitahuna River was in high flood, and the railway was submerged to a depth of between three and four teet. On Saturday night the passengers had to leave the &»in at Johnston and proceed to WaitaSiujaa, where they were accommodated at a °A slip on the Port Chalmers lino delayed the 11 o fcloeljr train on Saturday night. It did not come in till yesterday morning. Elsewhere very little damage has been done to the railways. The department is to be complimented for the prompt manner in which the various obstructions have been cleared, and also for the precautionary measures which were so successfully adopted for the prevention of accidents. Fortunately, tho majority of the slips occurred either late on Saturday or early on Sunday morning, so that the debris will in nearly every instance be cleared away by this morning, and no serious impediment .will be placed in the way of traffic. One of our staff yesterday proceeded as far os Henley, with a view of ascertaining the extent of tho floods in that direction. At 4 o'clock in the tfjpnioon the Taien River waa still rising slowly, ti)fi rise from about 9 o clock that morning having,i>ee» about four inches. Looking northward and in the direction of Outrani, the plain presented the appearance of a lake. Hundreds and hundreds of Mffis of the low-lying lands were submerged, the wyw i itretch of water being here and there varied ! fey the appearance of the top of a gorae ; txedee or an isolated farm steading. The •greSsr portion of Kirkland's and Wm. Shand s properfe seemed to be flooded. On Mr Shand's torn a number of cattle and sheep were in one place grouped together in an unsafe position, and an attempt was being made to remove the sheep i# drays to higher ground. In another place a number of cattle were observe I standing in about thi-es feet of water. At Henley matters were even worse:, all the flat land was flooded, and it was apparent that much damage would be done to the fences and roads. , The weather continued showery throughout the whole of yesterday, but as a very cold southerly wind was blowing, it is probable that instead of rain snow was falling on the hills to ■the jwrth and west. Should this be the case, •it may be presumed that the flood is at its Jieight, .a&d that very little further damage will ensue. ______^_