A weather bureau specialty, “ a scattered shower”, drenched Port Macquarie on Sunday, 603 points being recorded for the 24 hours ending at 9am on Monday.

The shower gave its best performance on Sunday morning, when 446 points were recorded at the Pilot Station in a little over three hours.

The rain eased toward 1pm and didn’t start again until sunset; then a further 127 points fell during the night.

The intensity of the rain caused local flooding along Wrights Creek which extends from beyond Flynns Beach Caravan Park to Kooloonbung.

Blockages occurred in Flynn Street; at the corner of Lord and Hill streets, and on Lake Road, traffic was held up for a couple of hours in some cases.

Water inundated the grounds of Beach Park at Flynns Beach. Some damage occurred at the Caracamp near the breakwall when rushing waters from the Munster Street area caused a stairway to be eroded and collapse.

Gardens suffered throughout the town and losses at market gardens were heavy. Mr. Jack Hennessey said yesterday that hail was thick at his farm at Old Lake Road and considerable damage was done to his crops by both hail and rain. Mr. Peter McLaren also lost a large crop of tomatoes ready to pick, and a patch of beans.

The municipal engineer, Mr. Eric Grogan, said yesterday that damage – as far as the council’s roads and drainage system was concerned – was surprisingly light.

However, the sewerage contractor was hard hit, and much work will have to be done again on one of the main pickup lines, connecting the Burrawan Street area to the pumping station.

Some of the contractor’s equipment was under water, including a truck and a tractor. The Kooloonbung reclamation scheme work was hard hit. Floodwaters spilled over the levy banks of the channel, designed to carry such water away. Run-off water carried away a good deal of the sand fill, and red dirt topping has disappeared to a large degree.

Council’s engineer said the flooding revealed the need to ensure that the outlet canal was satisfactory before land was released.

Huddleston shot a 73 on new layout

On a new 18-hole layout, the bringing into play of which he had much to do with, Bob Huddleston shot a 73 on Saturday afternoon when golfers played the full circuit at Tacking Point for the first time.

Par for the 6400 yard layout is 70-35 each nine, four par three holes, two fives, and twelve par fours.

The golf club moved to Tacking Point in 1953 when the confined nine-hole area (now occupied by the high school and Oxley Oval) became over-crowded and dangerous to traffic.

Eighty golfers enjoyed the experience of playing the links for the first time after Charlie Uptin had driven the first ball. He was one of those closely associated with the move to Tacking Point, and as club president Jack Pike said, it was a day that many had been looking forward to for some years.

Bob Huddleston’s round will stand as a course record.