DAMAGE BY SEA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16866, 1 February 1929, Page 11

DAMAGE BY SEA

TIMARU HARBOR WORKS SAFETY OF PORT NOT AFFECTED Damage estimated to cost at least £2o,o€(Mo repair was done to the eastern extension id Tiinnru Harbor in Ihe early hours of Friday morning by mountainous seas which rolled up from the south in unprecedented force and .spent their fury on the extension which is made of huge stones and lor more than years has afforded all the protection that, the inner harbor has required. About 100 ft, of the staging of the extension was carried away. If was ascei tamed on Saturday that none of the Staging had been washed in the way of shipping and that the big stones which had been washed out of the extension, some of them weighing eight to 10 tons, had no!, been carried more than 0011. or 40ft., and they were well clear of the track of shipping. In addition to the breach which has been made in about the centre of the extension, some big stones were washed away from two bays at the outer end. Huge stones were used in the construction of the rubble wall and the disappearance of large quantities of these give some idea of the fury ol the storm. The timber structure was solidly bolted together, the main piles being firmly embedded in the seabed, and the parting of these libbers brought about the destruction of the railway track, a considerable stretch of which has been destroyed. It is estimated that hundreds of tons of shingle have been washed over the extension into the outer harbor, but no damage is expected. No damage uus done inside, the, harbor. The Harbor Board decided some months ago to strengthen the extension hv raising it to the full height of the timber stage and they let. a contract to a Wellington firm to do the work. The tirm started quarrying the stone and carried on this work for several weeks, but then asked the hoard to relieve it Of its contract. The board agreed to do this and decided to do the work itself by day labor. It lost no tame in carrying on when the contractors left oil amfbut for the altered circumstances caused by the storm would have delivered tire first of the new stone to the extension on Monday. The. eastern extension was completed m 1906. and for the past 2? years it has served the purpose for which it was built admirably. No time will he lost in repairing the damage.