On The Plains.

Thames Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 19623, 3 February 1936, Page 3

On The Plains.

WESTERN AREA SUFFERS. i • • W'AITAKAKUKC STREAM. WATER SUPPLY INTERRUPTED. The eastern and middle areas of the llauraki Plains were not affected to any extent by the storm. The I'iako Kiver rose rapidly but the stopbanks field well. The Waihou Kiver was in high flood. fifty 40-gallon drums ol petrol were seen in the river yesterday, which, it is understood, were washed off the Paeroa wharf. The flooding of the western portion of the Plains was the worst that has yet been experienced. Thousands of acres are inundated with water a foot deep in places. The main highway between the Waitakaruru stream and the canal, a distance of one-third of a mile, was yesterday nearly two feet under water for the whole distance. One of the bridges over the Mangatarata stream was carried away completely. There was a tremendous How in the Waitakaruru stream near the intake of the water supply of the llauraki Plains West water supply. The tresselled bridge supporting the lOin main at the intake was demolished and GO feet of piping carried away, completely interrupting the supply. A wooden building in which several workmen were camped on the bank of the stream was washed away and destroyed, the men just managing to escape. The water rose to six or seven feet above the spillway, and within a few hours a great volume of water came down the stream.