I love a good storm. Right now I am missing them a lot.
Where I live currently, they don’t seem to get anything except blue sky and
incessant sunshine.
My Mum talks about some storms she remembers when she was
a child. So, I thought I’d see what I could find in newspapers about them.
There are several events which occurred in the short time
they lived at Highbank, near Methven, Canterbury. They had moved there in early
1943. My grandfather had been working at Waitaki Power Station near Kurow
during the final stages of construction and then for almost nine years after it
was commissioned and opened.[1]
Their relocation was linked to his job, and the
construction of the Highbank Power Station. Highbank sits by the side of the Rakaia River near Methven. The intake to the power station comes from a diversion to the Rangitata River, down the hill in the pipeline to the station and then the tailrace takes the water to the Rakaia.[2]
I found some notes of Mum’s that augment my memory of the
stories she has told us, and I have also spent some time searching on PapersPast
to see what I could find to establish the exact dates. Some of the events don’t
appear to have been reported at all – or more likely haven’t yet been
digitised. (How I wish the National Library of New Zealand would adopt the
model for digitising used in Australia by Trove).
During the night of February 22nd, 1945
floodwaters on the plain above Highbank breached the wall of the diversion channel
and water poured down the hill to the station.[3]
The overseer was awoken at 3am to the noise and rallied a team together who
worked against time in the wind and rain to build a stopbank in an endeavour to
save the power house and pipeline.[4]
While the power house was saved, the slip still happened, racing down the hill;
almost completely destroying the access road and burying 5 of the 7 houses in
the village below. Remaining men and wives and mothers gathered their children
and made for the relative safety of the power house. Afterward, women and
children were sent away for a few days while the clean-up ensued. Mum went with
her siblings and mother to stay with their grandmother in Christchurch.
The station had been scheduled to open in March, but this was delayed so that the road could be repaired and the clean up completed.[5] All of the shingle needed to be dug out of the houses; drapes, furniture, carpet and belongings cleaned. Cars too, buried in the pile were dug out and stripped down, cleaned and reassembled.[6] Temporary housing was supplied as well, while a new village was constructed on the valley floor a little way from the power house.
The station had been scheduled to open in March, but this was delayed so that the road could be repaired and the clean up completed.[5] All of the shingle needed to be dug out of the houses; drapes, furniture, carpet and belongings cleaned. Cars too, buried in the pile were dug out and stripped down, cleaned and reassembled.[6] Temporary housing was supplied as well, while a new village was constructed on the valley floor a little way from the power house.
Bert Fuller, Highbank slip damage construction village and river plain, c23 February 1945, digital image, personal collection.
In Mum’s notes a bailey bridge was installed at this time,
which would make sense with the road gone.[7]
This enabled the school bus to come down to the construction village to collect
the children and take them to school in Methven. Before this, they needed to walk
up a zig zag path to the top of the hill. However, the only newspaper account I have
found mentioning the bridge, documents its removal in March 1945, having been put in
place to give construction workers access following a washout before Christmas.[8]
But perhaps it was a separate bridge to the one required after the slip and
which features in photos belonging to my grandfather.
Bert Fuller, Highbank Bailey Bridge, cFebruary 1945, digital image, personal collection.
The next storm, also involved a night time move to the powerhouse,
so infers that it occurred before the village was relocated further down the
valley. (Maybe not ? I may need to make some corrections in the future.)
Families were awakened by the wind roaring through the valley, as they are apt
to do in Canterbury.
“In a small
construction cottage, wind tore through the gap under the door, rattled at the
windows. Suddenly a tremendous roar; the roof peeled off and was hurled through
the air. The windows blew in, shattering glass everywhere.”[9]
Removed to the relative safety of the powerhouse, the
quiet was soon disrupted by the fury outside when another gust blew the huge
roller door in like “a piece of paper”.[10]
What a sight in the morning, toppled trees, roofless homes, curtains flapping
in the breeze, torn.[11]
I can’t find any account of this storm in online newspapers at all, or none
that truly connect a gale to these events.
The other event much talked about was a big snowfall. I
had always imagined this was the 1945 snowfall which is often compared with
recent falls.[12]
unknown, Edith Fuller at Christchurch, cJuly 1945, digital image, personal collection.
But, I think from looking at photos and reading the old
papers, that it was most likely in 1943.[13]
That snowstorm was compared, at the time, to heavy falls in 1918.[14]
Mum and her family were in Christchurch, visiting their grandmothers when the
snow came.[15] Her
father needed to get back to Highbank for work, but driving was not possible.
He travelled by railway jigger to Methven and was met by a farmer who lived
near the top of the access road. The road was not passable, so he walked/clambered down the
hill alongside the pipeline (or where the pipeline was being constructed) to
the power-house.[16]
Bert Fuller, Methven Hotel, cJuly 1943, digital image, personal collection
Bert Fuller, Highbank Power House from top of the pipeline, cJuly 1943, digital image, personal collection.
Bert Fuller, Highbank construction village, c July 1943, digital image, personal collection.
The idea of travelling by jigger was met with some envy
by Mum and her siblings; and with fascination by us hearing the story. But I bet it
was freezing cold, and not actually that much fun at all – you’d keep warm
though keeping it moving I suppose.
[1] NZ
History, ‘Waitaki Dam’, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/waitaki-dam,
Accessed 29 April 2018.
[2] Unknown,
Highbank Power Station, R.E. Owen,
Government Printer, Wellington, New Zealand, 1965, pp.1-4.
[3] Damage
at Highbank, Houses Buried In Shingle, Press,
24 February 1945, p.6.
[4] Saved
Power-House, Evening Post, 3 March
1945, p.8.
[5] Saved
Power-House, Evening Post, p.8.
[6] Elisabeth
Davys, The Years from 0-10, circa 1974, original held in author’s possession.
[7] Elisabeth
Davys, The Years from 0-10, circa 1974.
[8] General
News, Bailey Bridge Dismantled, Press,
27 March 1945, p.4.
[9] Elisabeth
Davys, Wind, circa 1974, original held in author’s possession.
[10] Elisabeth
Davys, Wind, circa 1974.
[11] Elisabeth
Davys, Wind, circa 1974.
[12]
Christchurch Libraries, ‘Snow Days’, https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/snow-days/,
Accessed 29 April 2018
[13]
The Snowstorm, Press, 10 July 1943,
p.3.
[14] The
Snowstorm, Press, p.3.
[15] Elisabeth
Davys, The Years from 0-10, circa 1974.
[16] Elisabeth
Davys, The Years from 0-10, circa 1974.
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