House Demolished

A small slip possibly saved the lives of the occupants of this house, Mr and Mrs H. Lewsley. About half an hour before a big earth movement had reduced their almost new home to matchwood, a small slip smashed in the back wall of the dining room. It induced Mr and Mrs Lewsley to vacate the house. The slip, from an almost vertical face, bowled the house off its foundations. It came to rest amid a sea of slush and rubble.

Rivers and streams were already running fairly high after steady rain from the Thursday. But at 6 p.m. on the Saturday, the downpour intensified and by midnight more than four inches of rain fell in Nelson - much more in the back country. Rivers, streams, creeks and culverts could not cope. While many in Nelson settled down to await the early morning broadcast of the third test at Port Elizabeth, residents in the Nile Street and Brook Street areas were battling ineffectually to stem the torrents of water invading their properties. In the heart of the city, most streets were impassable and many wishing to return home were forced to make many deviations before finding a route open. Some didn't get home.

Day's Service Station was completely cut off by flood waters

Two young men who manned the Hardy-Rutherford Streets intersection did great work diverting traffic away from flooded streets

This van mounted a footpath in Vanguard Street in an attempt to beat the floods and ended up in this huge hole over the Vanguard Street main drain

Vanguard Street, outside Logan Motors, showing the van in the drain hole and another, just in front of the Post Boy Hotel, in another hole in the middle of the street

The upper end of Nile Street east on Sunday morning as residents survey the damage of the overnight flooding

Flood waters from a big drain coming down from Cleveland Terrace were still rushing through these garages and homes in Nile Street

On the Sunday morning a grab was working trying to clear the culvert alongside the home of Mr and Mrs A. W. Dobson, 154 Cleveland Terrace - a home which took the full force of flood waters rushing down the creek.

The Nile Street footbridge was smashed

Great chunks of roadway were gouged out by the floodwaters as they swept past and over the entrance to the home of Mr and Mrs G. R. Davey. 244 Nile Street east.

Residents of upper Nile Street east amid the rubble which transformed neatly-kept gardens into a scene of desolation (note the gate posts and fence just above the rubble which in places was three feet deep)

Houses on back sections on Nile Street and fronting on to the river bore the brunt of the river's fury on the Saturday night and on the Monday. Flood waters invaded some up to a depth of four fees and more.

When the new crisis developed on the Monday, a call was made by the Civil Defence organisation for volunteers to fill sandbags. The response, like the response to all calls for help during the state of emergency, was overwhelming. A report of more heavy rain in the back country, and the high tide to come about 10 p.m., caused the crisis. On the western bank of the Maitai River by the Nile Street bridge, a wall of sandbags was thrown up (Above). The peak did not eventuate, however.

Volunteers working on filling sandbags

Another footbridge to go was the Hardy Street bridge

Homes in Clouston Terrace, off Nile Street, were some of the worst affected on both the Saturday and Monday (our photographer was standing in two feet of water as he took this picture across the flooded river towards Clouston Terrace homes).

The aftermath - the Maitai, still fairly high, showing the broken Hardy Street bridge and broken sewer and water pipes in the foreground

Tree trunks smashing into the bridge leading into the Maitai Valley broke the bridge foundations and twisted the decking (a cyclist proved that it was still negotiable for very light traffic).

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The Nelson Photo News

No 119 : September 19, 1970

House Demolished