1926 Flood. Westport. Post Office.

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Description5th November 1926 the Westport township was flooded. There was an estimated 350,000 to 370,000 cu secs of water flowing down the Buller River. This is equivalent to two million gallons of water per second.
Swollen rivers rose rapidly.
Farms were inundated by floodwaters.
Many roads were damaged. The road between Kumara and Hokitika suffered extensive damage from scouring.
Buller county roads suffered £7,320 ($614,000 2008 dollars) of damage.
The whole railway service north of Greymouth was dislocated. There were two washouts on the Greymouth-Reefton railway line.
Affected LifelineTelegrah communication was interrupted all over the Coast. Telegraph communication between Greymouth and Westport was cut. The line was down for miles between Murchison and Inangahua Junction and there was no communication with stations south of Ross.
Total Damage£50,000 ($4,197,200 2008 dollars) of damage was done.
100 head of sheep were reported lost.External LinkNZ Historic Weather Events Catalogue.ContributorTrich Devescovi

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Location (city or town)WestportEventFlood

Category Information

Category TagDisaster

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CommentsRay Chinn
Post office.

Lorraine N Ross Buchanan
Brougham st /Palmerston st cnr Fairs on left 2story house on left is peel st cnr other side of square

Joshua Kilkelly
beautiful architecture

Troy Fensom
Was my comment about flooding not being a new thing offensive or something?

Lynette Hudson
Before and after photos of the post office.
May be an image of text

Val Shaw
Post office can see the Albion next corner on right great building still standing after floods and earthquakes.

Kevin Smith
This flood or 1926 was unique in that it is the only time the river has broken through upstream of the town. The water came from up the Nine Mile and crossed over the railway line at Queen St / Russell St area. The town filled up as the water flowed through town trying to find a way out.

Paul Thomas
This was the greatest cyclone and it affected all N.Z. Landslides and flooding from the torrential rain were ubiquitous.

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1926 Flood. Westport. Post Office.

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