RIVER RAN DRY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18254, 24 November 1933, Page 10

RIVER RAN DRY

SHIPPING DID NOT SUFFER LONDON, Oct. 21. The River Avon, up which fairly largo steamers pass at high tide to reach Bristol Docks, lias recently been so low that at one point it was possible to walk across it. The river has a top tide of 38ft., rising considerably higher with a southwesterly wind, but during a recent neap tide it was almost completely drained ot water. This was largely due to lack txf fresh water reaching the rirer from its source. At Pill, four mtfc down the river from Bristol and about two miles from the mouth, only* a .trickle of water remained in the bed. The occurrence is the more remarkable because the rivers of the Bristol Channel are noted for the phenomenal amount of water they carry. At Chepstow, on the Severn, there is a rise of 52ft., the second highest in the world. Shipping has not been greatly inconvenienced by the phenomenon at Pill, as the outer horbors of the Bristol citydocks at Avonmouth were unaffected. Some ships, however, were delayed for a tide from berthing in the centre of the city, where the inner docks are situated.