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Wellington Independent, Volume VIII, Issue 772, 5 March 1853, Page 2

The Weather — Heavy Fall of Ratn.—On Thursday evening the weather, which had duriDg the early part of

that, I*ll the whole of the preceding day, beon not only very fine but also very sultry, suddenly changed, and about 6 o'clock the rain began to fall,, at first li»htly, but soon afterwards very heavily, the wiurt'blowing from the South East During the whole of Thursday night ai ,up to midday on Friday, the rain con tinued to fail without any abatementopposite Mr! Firth's, the Aurora Tavern, the road was inundated , to the depth of more than a foot, oiid the path itself almost impassable on account of the water. The quantity of water which hud fallen during the time had the effect of bursting the swamp on Tβ Aro. The sceue it presented was of a very novel and somewhat extraordinary character, the water rushing down in torrents anil making a channel through the swamp, by washing away all that obstructed its course. Large portions of flax, grass, trees, &c, together with the bridge leading to Hoggard's Mill, were carried by the force of the tpriijent into the sea, and might be seen floating about the harbour iri every direction. The canal which "it was proposed to cut through Tβ Aro' to the basin at the foot of Mount Cook has thus fortunately been made without assistance of Government, and the deep channel now opened will be the means of draining a considerable quantity of the land adjacent to it/which has been comparatively useless for some years past.