A CLOUDBURST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23428, 17 February 1938, Page 12

A CLOUDBURST

TOWNSHIP INUNDATED ROADS AND RAILWAY BLOCKED DAM DESTROYED BY FLOOD (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, Feb. 16. Boulders, trees and debris were swept down a hillside, small streams were swollen beyond all proportion, streets were inundated and road and rail traffic was seriously dislocated, and at least two houses were threatened by flood waters following a cloudburst at Matata to-day. Lying at the foot of a strip of hilly country on the Bay of Plenty coast, the township suffered severely although the actual structural damage resulting from several hou r s of torrential rain is reported to be slight.

In the middle of the afternoon the township was practically surrounded by deep lagoons and swift flowing torrents of water. Creeks rose with amazing rapidity and the main street was very soon a turbulent river, charged with boulders and debris. The township was robbed of its water supply when a dam. which was situated in a gully in the hills, burst under the weight of the enormous volume of flood water.

Numerous slips on the main Taneatua road suspended motor traffic between Te Puke and Matata and a fairly serious slip and a subsidence on the railway line held up the railway service this afternoon following the torrential rain.

Owing to the lack of communication only meagre details are available of the extent of the damage, but it is anticipated that full repairs will not oe effected for several days.