BAINES TERRACE HAVOC

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1935, Page 9

BAINES TERRACE HAVOC

NO DAMAGE AT PUKE KURA HUATOKI DAM COLLAPSES RAVAGES TO TOWN BEAUTY SPOT. CONTRASTS AFTER THE FLOOD. Generally speaking, yesterday’s deluge did less harm to New Plymouth parks and reserves than had been feared. The heaviest sufferers were the Huatoki domain, where one of the wing walls of the swimming pool dam collapsed under the strain of a flood from eight to 10 feet above normal level, and Bains Terrace, where the damage has been really extensive. The Baines Terrace gully formed a natural sluice through which the water swept with tremendous force. Every small plant and many shrubs were ripped from the soil and hurtled downstream. When the level of the water dropped yesterday the-beautiful scenery out of the reach of the flood contrasted strongly with the fevz bedraggled shrubs on clay sub-soil that marked the stream’s path. Near the Vivian Street junction with Carrington Road a strip of asphalt pavement about 40 feet long and 10 feet wide had been washed into the river. Further on ominous cracks gave indication of further weaknesses. Late yesterday evening the lower portion of the footpath was still flooded. Though the ponds at Pukekura Park and Brooklands rose above their usual level there was no swamping. The culverts and outlets had recently been cleaned by the ground staff and coped with the greater pressure. Sports grounds were flooded but not extensively damaged.