SEVERE STORM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 July 1939, Page 6

SEVERE STORM

ALL CANTERBURY SWEPT AGAIN SOME HIGHWAYS BLOCKED BY SNOW. — ■ HEAVY LOSSES OF STOCK REPORTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Sweeping the whole of the province, the second severe storm within a week cut oft’ communication with the West Coast by road yesterday and again lashed Banks Peninsula. Six inches of snow . blocked theAkaroa Road this morning, but it was cleared with a grader. While the road is open, only cars on urgent business are permitted to pass by the Main ghways Board inspectors and chains ;'.T:Y’--'U]snry. Three feet of snow blocks the West Coast Road, while the Lewis Pass route is also closed. At Birdling’s Flat, a foot of water covers the Akaroa Road, but a detour through paddocks has been marked out. The Main South Road is clear to Invercargill, but care is needed on Mount Cargill and Kilmog (on the northern approach to Dunedin). Heavy losses of stock are reported from Banks Peninsula and it is expected that the approaching lambing season will be disastrous to farmers. Streep, already weak through lack of food in the autumn, are suffering severely because of the storm. The full , loss will not be known for weeks, until the heavy drifts are cleared. WILD NIGHT HEAVY SNOW IN MARLBOROUGH BACK COUNTRY. AIR FORCE PLANES PICKETED IN OPEN. BLENHEIM, This Day. Snow fell on the fiat here last night for the first time in five years, but by this morning it had practically disappeared. It was a wildly stormy night, with heavy winds and rain. Residents were not surprised, on rising, to see the heaviest mantle for years on the surrounding hills and mountains. Snow ranging in depth from an inch to a foot is reported from back country stations. One of the heaviest falls occurred near Raivally and on the Wangamoa Hill, midway between Blenheim and Nelson, where main highway traffic was delayed for upwards of an hour this morning while a Public Works bulldozer cleared the road for about half a mile. There were also heavy falls on the Blenheim-West Coast road over Tophouse, but though the route carried heavy traffic during the weekend for the Seddon Shield Rugby match at Westport, no serious interruptions occurred. ' All outlying districts report falls of snow, but no damage. Today there is fitful sunshine, interspersed with.rain and sleet. . . The steamer Gabrialla, bound from Newcastle to Wanganui, is sheltering in Queen Charlode Sound on account of stormy conditions making the Wanganui Harbour unworkable. Four Air Force bombers en route from Palmerston North to Christchurch remained here overnight as a result of snow at Wigram. The planer were picketed in the open and the crews had a somewhat anxious night on account of the high winds, which caused one machine to break partially adrift. SEVERE WEATHER. EXPERIENCED IN MANAWATU. PALMERSTON N„ This Day. For the seventn time this month, the. hills in the vicinity of Palmerston North are heavily covered with snow the result of another spell of severe winter weather. No snow fell in the city to lie on the ground. Conditions are now improving.

SNOW IN WANGANUI DISTRICT.

WANGANUI, This Day.

Wanganui and the surrounding district experienced heavy snowfalls this morning, with an unprecedented depth in parts and with two inches or more in places which have never had snow. Light snow fell in the city area for half an hour from 7 a.m. but was soon dispelled by heavy rain.