ROUGH WEATHER IN JULY

Southland Times, Issue 23894, 12 August 1939, Page 19

ROUGH WEATHER IN JULY

ROADS IN COUNTY SUFFER

NO DAMAGE OF MAJOR NATURE

A statement that the gravelled roads in the county had suffered as a result of the bad weather during July was made by the engineer (Mr G. R. Milward) in his report to yesterdays meeting of the Southland County Council. . “There was considerable rainfall in the earlier part of the month, and this changed to snow on Monday, July 24, snow falls continuing generally until Thursday, July 27,” stated Mr Milward “There was considerable evidence of a possible quick thaw, and heavy flooding of the rivers seemed inevitable, but fortunately the thaw ceased, and snow again fell on Friday, July 28, on the upper reaches of the main rivers. This enabled the flood waters on the lower reaches to get away first. The flooding in the Mataura river reached a peak of 7ft 6in at Gore bn Friday, July 28. The Oreti river did not rise very high, only sufficient to cover the InvercargillRiverton highway to a depth of approximately 18in at the peak.” Mr Milward stated that on Thursday, July 27, he considered it advisable to move all plants on river beaches where damage might have occurred, the shifts being carried out on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. As it happened, the plants could have been left, but the risk was too great to take any chances. “There has been no damage of a major nature in the county because of snow or floods, but a fairly large number of minor wash-outs occurred, the principal of these being the wash-out of the bridge approach on Dawsons bridge, Invercargill-Fortrose highway, and similar damage to McNally’s bridge on the Morton Mains-Gorge Road highway,” stated the report. “A wash-out also occurred at the Waimumu stream bridge on Marshall road (Hokonui riding) and similar damage to a concrete culvert on Counsel road, Makarewa. “The flood waters of the Waihopai river caused considerable damage to the bituminous surface on the North Invercargill-Waikiwi highway, the damage being accentuated by a severe frost while the road was still waterlogged. It may be necessary to recoat a few chains of this highway with an additional seal sometime during the summer. In the higher country in the county farmers had considerable difficulty with snow drifts in road cuttings, and in these districts county employees and graders were used to obtain access for farmers with the utmost despatch. In many cases the snow was too deep for the power graders to operate, and hand shovelling had to be used.” Mr Milward concluded by saying that the engineering staff had been engaged in the preparation for the season’s constructional work, but again the unfavourable weather had hindered the field work necessary. The roads generally in the county could not be classed as being in good order at the present tune but no difficulty should be experienced in bringing back the smooth surfaces by intensive grading when drier conditions existed.