EAST COAST ROAD AND RAIL DISRUPTION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 150, 1 July 1946, Page 4

EAST COAST ROAD AND RAIL DISRUPTION

CUT MADE TO PREVENT FLOODING (P.A3 Gisborne, June 30. Railwav and road services were disrupted as the result, of a severe southerly storm, in which over two inches .of rain had fallen in the 24 hours ended 9.30 to-day, following three inches in the previous three days. A subsidence of 40ft. of railway track in Kopuawhara Valley, on the Gisborne-Wairoa line, which occurred on Thursday, became worse on Saturday, stopping traffic. South passengers were transported by bus to Nuhaka, where they transferred to emergency train. Slips further down the line are reported near Mohaka, and the running of railcars on Monday is considered unlikely. In addition, slips blocked the Gis-borne-Motuhora line. Most of the roads are still open, though the northern highway is blocked by water over a bridge and one leg of the southern highway is impassable. Rivers and streams throughout the district r.ro swollen by heavy rain on the back country and are running a bank high flood. Warnings were issued on Saturday morning to settlers along the route of Waipaoa River, which threatened to spill over when it reached its peak late in the afternoon with the incoming tide. Public Works gangs are using bulldozers and other equipment to cut a new channel to the sea two miles from the present mouth, and thus, it is believed, averted a major inundation in the lower reaches of the river, though the danger remains as the result of further heavy squads. Tne work was done under a grant by the Minister, Mr. Semple, for flood prevention two years ago, and the scheme is given credit lor preventing extensive flooding.