STORMWATER DRAIN BURSTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21211, 5 December 1938, Page 6

STORMWATER DRAIN BURSTS

Roads Converted Into Rivers Much Damage Around Dunedin Houses Endangered By Telegraph —Pres? association DUNEDIN, December 4. The bursting of a storm-water drain in Wilkie Road during the night was th: cause of most serious flooding, the whole of the area around Kensington being inundated. Early in the morning it was impossible for cars to go through Bridgman Street, Grosvenor Street and Wain Street—a short thoroughfare beside the railway embankment—all having about three feet of water lying in them until the morning was well advanced. The Kensington School and houses in Grosvenor and Wain Streets were flooded, and it has been decided not to reopen the school until Thursday. A coating of silt was deposited in several rooms and it is considered that after this has been cleared away it will be a day or two before the school is dry. In Wain Street, even towards mid-day. wr *:r was still well above the floor level of some of the houses, and at the end of the street and in the yard of MeSkimming’s pottery works it was about three feet deep. Houses Invaded Most of the streets connecting Cargill Road and Macandrew Road were like rivers and in Loyalty, Richmond, Nelson and Helena Streets water was up to the doorsteps of most of the houses, some actually being entered. Property owners were able to do little to-day towards clearing away the silt brought into their homes by the flood waters. Milkmen serving the soutn end of the city had an unenviable task, and they were to be seen m every street wading through water frequently up to .their knees to seek for milk billies which in not a few cases had floated away from doorsteps. The shopping centre of South Dunedin did not escape, water entering a number of shops. Wolfenden and Russells’ department stores, Hannah’s boot shop and the cycle works of W. T. Beveridge were the most serious sufferers, but no estimate of the amount of stock affected was available to-day. Stream Becomes Torrent The small stream which comes down the hill beside Cliff’s Road at St. Clair became a swollen torrent on Saturday night, and a house in Norfolk Street was endangered. The high water mark left by the debris deposited as the water fell indicated that at one stage the stream must have been not much less than 10 feet deep. Shortly before midnight on Saturday an appeal for men to fill sand bags to turn the water away from a house was broadcast. As a result of water entering the underground cables at Opoho and South Dunedin, some telephone services were interrupted to-day. An official of the Post and Telegraph Department told a reporter that these lines could not be put back into order until all water lying in the streets had cleared away. It was hoped that it would be possible to have all services in the city working again tomorrow. Houses Endangered A large slip on the hill above Ravensbourne provided numerous streams which filled every small gully with a huge quantity of material which was washed down the steep slopes to houses on the Dunedin-Port Chalmers Road. Just past the entrance to the fertiliser works two houses have been left in what appears to be a precarious position, banks in front of them having fallen away and the left portions of the verandahs hanging over space. Further along greater damage has been done by swiftly running water, and the properties of Messrs H. Guthrie and M. Rossie have been devastated. One of these two properties har. served to dam back a small stream with a result that soft sticky clay has covered the backyard almost to the level of the windows. •Washouts have in places endangered the lower side of the road, and at least one slip has covered the railway line between Burke’s and Maia. Slips Interrupt Traffic As a result of several small, -slips occurring on the north railway line, though none of them is of large dimensions, it was necessary to-day to cancel the departure from Dunedin of the usual 9.30 a.m. seaside train There was one slip on the south side | of the Sawyers Bay tunnel and four or five more occurred between Sawyers Bay and Purakanui. From that point northwards there was little trouble one or two minor slips about Omimi being cleared during this morning. According to reports received by the Automobile Association (Otago) to-day the only road not clear for traffic tonight was that between Portobello and Cape Saunders. It was stated that there had been slips of considerable size which could not be cleared for some time. There was seme water on the Main South Road to-day, but the road was never completely blocked To the north slips occurred on Mount Cargi’l and the Kilmog, but these were not enough to cut off communication. There was flooding at the West Taieri Bridge, which prevented access to Middlemarch Road by way of Outxam. The Kaikorai stream covered the Brighton Road to a depth sufficient to make it impassable to traffic. It was not possible for a good part of the day to drive through Waitahuna, where the road was covered with water to a depth of several feet.