Cloud-Burst Hits Tahiti
p. 49 · Read in the full issue
From Our Own Correspondent
Papeete, Oct. 22.
A HEAVY storm struck Tahiti last *** month and developed into a cloud burst in the district of Papara, swelling the principal river, Taharuu, into a rag ing torrent. The bridge over the river was so damaged that traffic was inter rupted for several days.
Papara has been particularly unfortun ate in that it has been the scene of more than one disaster from floods.
Some years ago one of the streams which drains a circular interior vaHe> and issues thence through a narrow gorge to the coast became dammed, dur ing a period of heavy rainfall, by a great land and rock avalanche. This mass choked the gorge, causing the water to accumulate in the valley until a deep lake was formed. As the valley is far inland, in an uninhabited part of the is land, no one on the coast knew what was happening there.
A cloud-burst raised the waters until the pressure broke through the barrier, releasing a wall of water which swept down on to the coast. It carried away
two bridges, and overwhelmed houses and those in them, and left a wilderness of mud and debris that is visible to this day.
Mr. W. D. Ball, Superintendent of Police at Rabaul, whose work during and after the recent eruptions was the 'sub ject of much praise by the townspeople, spent part of October in Hong Kong on short furlough.