SERIOUS WASH-OUTS ON MIDLAND LINE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17711, 4 December 1925, Page 8

SERIOUS WASH-OUTS ON MIDLAND LINE.

(VEST COAST FLOODS HOLD j. UP ROAD AND RAIL TRAFFIC. GREYMOUTH MENACED BY RIVER THAT IS STILL RISING. 5 (Special lo (lie “ Slar.") GREYMOUTH, December 4. Three inches of rain in twenty-four hours have dislocated road and railway traffic on the West Coast. Numerous slips and washouts are reported, and the Grey River is running a banker, menacing the town with flood if the rain does not soon cease. The full extent of the damage cannot be ascertained until the water recedes. There is little prospect of the expresses running to Christchurch to-morrow as there are four washouts on the line this side of Otira, while a big washout is reported on the Canterbury side near Arthur’s Pass, where 200 yards of line is affected Trains between Reefton and Greymouth have been held up, and no traffic is possible on the Otira line. The Rlackball combined traffic and railway bridge has again been weakened, and heavy traffic is impossible, and passengers are being transferred to trains on each side. A big slip on the road between Otira and Kumara, at Rocky Point, is expected to take a considerable time to clear. Cars en route from Reefton to Westport have been held up. A wild northerly gale swept the Coast last night, and heavy rail) is still falling. The Grey River was only a foot below the level of the wharf at noon to-day, and a flood is possible at high tide early to-morrow morning. The river came over the wharf previously in 1913, doing much damage to the business portion of the town.