TARANAKI DELUGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24808, 7 January 1942, Page 6

TARANAKI DELUGE

MANY SLIPS AND WASH-OUTS RAILWAY TUNNEL BLOCKED (PA.) NEW PLYMOUTH, Jan. 6. Large slips block the StratfordOhura road over the Whangamomona saddle. The railway tunnel under the saddle is choked with trees and timber, and there are many slips and wash-outs between Ngatimaru and Pohokura. All the low-lying country has been inundated, and communication by telephone, telegraph, or any other means has been severed. This is the result of an unusually heavy fall of rain that deluged the Whangamomona County to-day and created almost unbelievable havoc in certain areas.

No advice had been received tonight of the state of either the road or the railway beyond Whangamomona. Railwaymen who inspected the Whangamomona tunnel this afternoon said it would be several weeks before trains could possibly proceed beyond Pohokura. The tunnel was completely buried with timber. Logs and stumps were piled higher than the concrete work of the tunnel, and it was thought that they would extend for some distance inside the tunnel. The streams between Huiakama and Whangamomona were all flooded, and in many places they covered the road and railway.. At Pohokura, the Makahu stream was flowing feet deep across the road and railway crossing, and was even pouring over the platform at the station. It was estimated that the water rose at the rate of about two feet in half an hour. Later in the afternoon the rain stopped, but to-night water was still flowing over the low-lying flats. Damage was done elsewhere in the district by the heavy rainfall. Slips block the Okoke road and the road bridge over the Urenui River has been swept away.

CHILD DROWNED SWING BRIDGE SWEPT AWAY (P.A.) NEW PLYMOUTH, Jan. 6. A 10-year-old child lost his life when flood waters swept away a bridge in the Okoke district. He was Desmond Cyril Smaller, son of Mr and Mrs Dudley Smaller, of Okoke. The child was standing with his younger brother on a private swing bridge over the Upper Urenui River, on the property of Mr Charles Lee, by whom his father is employed, when the bridge gave way. The younger brother escaped. The body had not been recovered to-night.

OHAKUNE FLOODED A DESTRUCTIVE VISITATION (PA.) WANGANUI, Jan. 6. Ohakune was without electric power to-night, and Clyde street, the main thoroughfare of the township, was a desolate waste of silt, driftwood and litter of all kinds after one of the most sensational floods experienced in the district for many years.

The railway bridge at Rochfort, on the Ohakune-Raetihi branch, was washed away early in the afternoon. It was swept down the Mangateitei River, together with masses of driftwood, and piled up against the concrete traffic bridge, blocking the river and diverting the flood waters into streets, back yards, dwellings and shops. Outhouses backing on to the river bank were swept away, and whares were flattened or badly battered by driftwood and other debris. The main street was blocked by large logs, which had to be moved by tractors after the flood had subsided. Many power poles in the district were brought down. Several homes in Ohakune were uninhabitable, and in others lamps and candles were the only lights available. Heavy rain fell continuously in the centre of the North Island all day. Mountain streams and creeks became raging torrents, and the flood waters rose rapidly. The damage in Ohakune occurred within two hours—between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The waters subsided quickly, leaving the streets littered with dead fowls, eels, trout and debris. Several motor cars were overturned, and one was swept into Memorial Pant in the Maori pa. Three dwellings were flattened.