The 1936 storm

In February 1936 the Tinui district and East Coast was hit by a particularly vicious storm which caused flooding and mayhem all over the district and in other parts of the Wairarapa, too.

Castlepoint and Whakataki

20 families camping at Castlepoint were marooned when a hurricane force gale, accompanied by heavy rain, raged from late on Saturday night 1 February, to midnight on the Sunday.

Mountainous seas pounded the foreshore throughout the day, the waves washing away sand hills and invading houses over 100 metres from the beach. 

At times Castlepoint lighthouse couldn't be seen as spray broke over it.

The little stream at the far end of Jetty Road became so swollen families camping at that end of the beach were marooned.

Fortunately the wind did little damage at Castlepoint, but blew down the Whakataki hall.

Castlepoint Station shepherds turned themselves briefly into meat workers to feed the campers, while the station cook baked bread all Sunday night.

The road from Castlepoint to Tinui was completely blocked by slips and washouts and it was estimated that it would be three weeks before it would be open to vehicles.

[At this point we give thanks for Higgins who work miracles on our behalf when the roads are a mess of slips and dropouts.]

Fortunately there was a cross-country track which allowed food and other supplies to be taken by pack horse from Tinui to the beleaguered campers at Castlepoint.

One hardy Castlepoint camper tramped all the way from Castlepoint to Tinui to let the outside world know how Castlepoint was getting on as the telegraph service was down, too.

The Wairarapa Aero Club came to the rescue with the mail, newspapers and bread, landing in the paddock across the road from the Whakataki Hotel. The pilot, Mr J H Preston, made four trips taking marooned holidaymakers back to Masterton.

Flooding everywhere

There was flooding all over the district. Mr B F Maunsell lost half of his newly-shorn ewe hoggets. and many others were affected by stock losses as well. 

At Whareama the bridge between the church and the hall collapsed. The Stronvar-Ngahape road was completely blocked.

As this was during The Depression, there was a relief workers' camp at Blairlogie. 50 men were housed in 24 tents which were ripped by the wind and completely ruined. The cookhouse chimney was wrecked so they couldn't light a fire to get warm. The men spent Sunday night sleeping as best they could sitting at the table in the cookhouse, with a few more accommodated in two small whares.

Fatality

16 year old Eric Groves, son of Harry and Mabel Groves, of Marangai, was killed when a branch of a big tree he was cutting with his younger brother rebounded and broke his neck.  Eric was supposed to have returned to Feilding Agricultural High School the previous day, where he was a boarder, but he begged to be able to stay on and help with the cleanup with disastrous consequences.