POWER LINES BROKEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 189, 12 August 1938, Page 9

POWER LINES BROKEN

STORM IN POVERTY BAY . MANY SLIPS IN WAIOEKA GORGE [ Per Press Association.) GISBORNE. Aug. 10. Faults on the Tuai-Ruakituri section of the main transmission line in the gale between Waikaremoana and the Patutahi sub-station left Poverty Bay without power for one or two hours to-day. Although this section of the line is duplicated both were dead, a shattered insulator on one and a burned cross-beam on the other being the chief causes of shortages. The Public Works Department shut down the line for an hour and a-half to make repairs which, however, in-

I volved a longer period, causing consid- • orable inconvenience in business and homes. To minimise the trouble the I Poverty Bay Power Board brought the stand-by plant into commission until the power was restored shortly ■ after 2 o’clock. It is reported that 14 slips have fallen between Oponae and Wairata, a distance of four miles. According jto advice received at the Gisborne | Post Office, the southward-bound mail I truck reached Okiore, in the Waioeka i Gorge, and the driver decided to stay i there until daylight. He started o’. ; again at 7 o’clock this morning an ’ I did not reach Oponae until 11 a.m. i The road from Gisborne to Ma'tawci ' was clear this afternoon. Except ion- | ally heavy rain has been falling in ; Gisborne since late in the afternoon.