Clutha Flood Slowly Subsiding

Chronicle (Levin), 6 November 1948, Page 7

Clutha Flood Slowly Subsiding

DUNEDIN, Nov. 5. During- last nigiit and this morning the level of the Clutha River at Balclutha continued to fali'slowly. The reading at Balcutha shortly before .midday showed a depth there of 16.7 freet and it was expected to fall another six inches by 10 p.m. tonight. This slow decline in the le,vel of the flood waters means that hundreds or flood workers will still have a big job to prevent a major break as the protective banks are beeoming steadily softer. Although today 's reading shows that the waters have gone down 1.7 feet from th'eir peak, they are still -well abov'e thp possible danger level and may remain so for some time. The' Clutha River Trust engineer, Mr. A. J. McD. Miller, who is supervising the aati-flood work, said today that the situation was still risky all over. .Men were working hard to prevent a break on the Hermitage bank . along the mainland side of the Matau branch betvveen -Stirling and Balclutha. Mr. Miller said an attempt would be . made to stop the influx of further waters into the flooded Inchclutha over the banks at the top of the island. At Paretai during the night,' there was some flooding when waters overtopped 'the banks and ibegan to pour into the area to a depth of 2ft. 6in. Local settlers and some of the volunteers who were yesterday sent from .Dunedin worked hard to erect and emergencv wall some 500 feet long- of hay bales supported by stakes amfnetting. There were at least 120 men on this task an»d their efforts resutled in the prevention of a major break.