STORM AND FLOODS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13990, 12 May 1916, Page 3

STORM AND FLOODS.

«. I ••HEAVY.' RAIN IN COAST AND . INLAND DISTRICTS. DAMAGE TO TOLAGA AND OTHER BRIDGES. The south-easterly gale, warning of which was issued by the Government Meteorologist on Wednesday night, has been experienced generally throughout the district. Heavy rain, continued falling all night, and, as will be seen from •the reports from country districts, 'tlv rainfall has been particularly heavy along the Coast, as much as 14 inches having been registered m the Tokomavuj district. , At Waimata Valley ■ 6£ . inches . of rain had fallen up till 9 o'clpck. After daybreak this morning the ''weather appeared to be breaking, - but this afternoon "the latest reports advised that steady rain .was still general. ; , ''; To-day's, 'weather forecast indicates ; that the. storm has not yet passed. The Government" Meteorologist advises that. a\ south-easterly gale, with heavy rain, is to be expected. , Mr C. P. Davies, lbcaJ rain recorder, reports that Ifor the 24 hours up to 9 a.m. to-day 5.4 'inches of : rain fell m town. maUiiiir 5.64 inches for the 36 hours' rain. At Te Karaka 4.36 inches had fallen during, 24 hours up to 9 o'clock this morning. WATVAOA RIVEiR A "BANKER." The continuous rain occasioned some' anxiety dn the flats hist night, but, as mentioned m our last issue, ' there-..' was. no particular rise m the river, yesterday. At W^erenga-a-ln*ka at daybreak this morning', it was found the Waipaoa river was running a v "banker," having risen, "with exeept-ona-l rapidity .;. m fact, sortie' of the setters declare thi?y have -never known it to vise so quickly. The river continued to rise steadily until 11. a.m., " -increasing m height at the rate of six 1 inches m a quarter of an hour. _At 11 .o'clock, however, it appeared to have reached its maximum, and it then commenced ,tn recede slowly, falling 3£t by 1 p.m. Before this, however, the flood water had overflowed into the lagoon at the bafk of. the Wacrenga-a-hika hotel.' ,'•. . About 9 o'clock this ' morning the river was just entering the hollow at Ormond, on the Gisborne side of the township. At Te Karaka. early this morning the river was; very high, hut started to fall about .7* o'clock. The weather c«?ared for two -or three hours, but at 11 o'clock 1 heavy rain again set m. At Kanakanaia tlie river had never been seen so high, whilst at Whatatntii the swollen state of th- river was occasioning ."anxiety^ .; \ \, A most satisfactory report is obtain-: „od from the mouth of* the.^ Waipaoa -river. Mr Chas. Gibson states that the -.flood 'water ...appears to have opened a; ; good wide channel, cutting away about. , three or-> four chains of' the- sandbank' : on the Whakawhitiri . side. There are indications that a good, deep, service- ; able channel has been scoured out, thus ) considerably improving the discharge of the flood water and tending to lessen $be risk of inundation. About 'll o'clock this morning the water had encroached on some of the lowest areas; but not . to any great extent. . ' The '• latest 1 advice from Waerenga-a--hika at 3 o'clock was. that the river •had gone down about three feet, and was subsiding /slowly In view of the v outlook, however, the position , is still • regarded as serious. „ ' ,< Although, considerable rairi has fallen m town, no material damage has. been reported. The most noticeable feature of the storm this -^ morning wasi flooded condition of the _> Waimata river; which, was running like a. mill-race, whilst the Taruheru river was m its normal condition. This is -accounted, for * by the fact that the Taruheru- rivei* is not affected seriously until it begins to .ta"ke off the overflow from, the Wapiaoa river when the latter breaks over at Waerenga-a-hika. '„'.<" A large quantity of the driftwood . coining 'down the Waimata river backed '. v.p against the William P'ettie and Kaiti '";' : bridges and Borough employees were engaged this morning clearing the ... debris away. ; Special precautions having been taken m connection with the shipping at the ' v;harf, no trouble was experienced when the torrent, of flood waters swept down •the channel. ' ■'<: -The sea at Gisborne is comparatively calm. .: Enquiries from the Cook County Council show that the sa'Verest damage reported is that sustained to the Tolaga liav bridge.' Fortunately, however, through a little prudence, th.* ..riding, is iii the happy possession of a bridge •'.fund- representing about £2500, and thedamage can thus/b* repaired without straining the ■Cb-lnoirs general funds. ■'.■■•"Except r<n* a fewVinor stnictures and; aome approaches tile bridges generally ; .are reported to he safe.'. A number of slips have come down affecting, amongst others, the "Riverside road, which is reported to be" blocked . ..from a milb; and a-half to three miles. "'''' A report was m circulation torday <p the effect that the Waiomoko bridge:! -. had been swept away, but enquiries "show that this is not so. A .slip lias come down on the deviation at Puatae, and small bridges are stated to. have gone at Pak&rao station and at. the Hikuwai turn-off (between Tolaga Bay *nd •T6komaru)t , ( '' • The chief post/master reports' that Co^. mails have been held up at ' Tolug*, Hay and Waipiro m consequence of the floods and that the Kaiiakanaia mail for 'the same reason is' also being held up. Outward mails for Tolaga and Tokomaru ware dispatched .from Gisborne by the. s.s Ruru 'this morning./ • Enquiries from Ngatapa elicit the fact that the creek-L has been fairly high,) having overflowed. ..some of the paddocks near; the station thia morning v At 2 p.nv the creek -had gone, down considerably, but heavy rain* had set m .'■'■ again. , ''-. ",*. ..'-..''*' .'• ; -'- : The temporary . low -^ level bridge., at Lavenham is*, under water, and is reported to have beeiv moved out of posi- ■ tion. '. ...*•. * '" . .•';"' v. ■".-'; , Messrs Re'dstoneV and Sons ;, .are advis-; ' that the Tolaga .• Bay coach' ha* been held up at Tolaga Bay -owing to the damage to/the- Uawa 'bridge; and there, is no hope of getting it across '-' for' some days. The Tokomaru coach is at Wai- •. ■.; piro Bay:, The TjnirotO coach left this '* morning asusual. ' ",.. /••.". ':; ■■■ Our Waipiro Bay correspondent' reports that heavy rain.' & continuing "to fall there. All the creeks are m hjgh' flood,*, and the ijchool had to be dismissed.- on account of the danger, of the . bridges being swept away. The coach ... is still weather bound, having been unable to' retirrn to Tokomaru Bay, No particular damage has been reported. ' . Tho telephone service beyond WaiJiiro Bay has been disorganised by the tprm, but telegraphic communication was .still possible as-' far as ; Tikifciki.. Much anxiety prevails 'On the. Coast re* furding the Waiapu bridge at Tikitfki, he river is m high flood, ; . and the bridge is regarded .as - safe)' ', although the approaches may. he endangered. This afternoon it * tfiae^idvi.sed. the'river would; still have to rise considerably before damaging,- tlve approaches. ■ '.'■-: .•- . ' - ■ ' . >:■■