TORRENT'S SUDDEN SUDDEN RISE

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1935, Page 7

TORRENT'S SUDDEN SUDDEN RISE

MANGAOTUKU RUNS OVER Wall of storm water BUILDING SPLIT IN TWO ■r■< ■ ■ ■ The water, which wrought such trembndous damage in the centre of New Plymouth, rose witli appalling suddenness. At midnight it seemed that the Worst effects of the heaviest rainstorm experienced in the town for many years had worn off. The two small fivers running under the town rose considerably Biit gave no indication of what was to follow. Gutters were still flooded but wbre gradually subsiding. Then, to the accompaniment of howling wind and rain the Huatoki and the Mangaotuku sent down solid walls of water accumulated from the terrific cloudburst that must have occurred somewhere in the lbw foothills of Mount Egfilont. The river roared like thunder beneath the shopping block, then as the culverts choked, came the ominoUs grind of broken masonry. Ten minutes later the first jets of water burst from the doors bhd windows of the shdps bn the southern side of Devon Street. A few minutes later the nbw swiftly running rivulet in Devon Street was joined by another that was to overflow from a newly formed lake in the hollow where the Taranaki Breweries building stands. 'All night the tenants of the affected shops worked with little effect to save the most perishable of their stock from destruction, wading knee deep in the torrents that raced through their prefnises. The flood subsided considerably towards dawn but again swept through portions of the town in swirling torrents yesterday morning and, with a full spring tide, it seemed that the situation Would become even more grave than it had been in the early hours of the morning. On the low-lying land fronting Courtenay Street a whirlpool from 36 to 40 feet deep at its deepest formed in the open space where the Huatoki Elver enters the long tunnel that carries it beneath the town. This river, hbwever, caused less “actual damage than the swollen Mangaotuku which rose to the level of the basement storey of the Taranaki Breweries building and filled the hollows with a yellow flood that, overflowed and raced roaring through nearby premises eventually to find exit in loWfef Brougham Street. Jbinfed by the racing overflow of the Huatoki the floodwaters converted the street into a swiftly running river Which opposite the failway station ended in a lake from 18 inches to 2 feet 6 inches deep. SPECTACULAR DAMAGE. The most speeeacular damage was done to the law office of Messrs. Weston, Ball and Grayling, an old wooden singlestoried structure, which is almost split in two. The block bulges slightly and when viewed from the side appears to be partially crumpled in half. The firm has suffered considerable loss. Called out about 2 p.m. yesterday morning Mr. Weston hurried to his Office in Brougham Street. By the time he arrived the building was already six inches deep in water and the matting, though still tacked to the floor, was Swelling and straining. Many valuable books on lower- shelves were soaked. Mr. WeSt&n quickly put all movable property out of reach of the rising flood. He threw open a back window which looks Out Upon the Mangaotuku River and saw the water lapping against the Window sill. There was, however, little more he cotild dd. Returning about two hours later Mr. Weston found the door jammed, the flood waters being- penned up in the offices. Tables, chairs, carpets, books and papers Were floating A about the rooms and little jets of water " were cascading through the bulging panelling. A length of matting some 60ft. long swirled through the passage and into the street, Mr. Weston finding it difficult to retrieve. Uncanny cracking of glass and creaking of timbers had by this time become £O menacing that Mr. Weston felt alarm lest the offices should cave in. Just as he was leaving there was a sharp shock and the floor seemed to fall suddenly twc* or three inches. Yesterday the damage Mr. Weston’s premises had undergone was clearly understood. The fear halt has been jerked up about slxjteet ihb st water.