STOCK LOSSES IN HAWKE'S BAY

Chronicle (Levin), 10 August 1949, Page 3

STOCK LOSSES IN HAWKE'S BAY

HASTINGS, August 9. The cessation of heavy rain and th water gettiixg awa^ well down tbe rive]

ehannels, has. caused the flood risk orecede although there is still an ele ment of danger from ' the Tukituki River, the last main waterway to rise and therefore the last to regain norma] levels. At the Black Bridge on the Tukituki River, the water was at ito highest for 30 years at two feet below the decking. The vast volume of water earrying flood debris, was a threat to this old strueture and a caroful watch is being maintainSd on it. Construction work on the Red Bridge farther up streapi, suffered from flood waters flnd a good portion of the der rick work was eafried down - stream, constituting a threat to the Black Bridge. A change in the wind directioji to the south and! a considerable increase in its intensity, has aceentuated iambing difiieulties arnd losses now are expeeted to be a good deal heavier than appeared likely yesterday. From all] parts of the province reports suggestedl that the aggregate loss of lambs and breeding ewes will be heavy. In the Maraetotara district where the rainfall has been exceptional, lambs are being born dead on one property where lambing has jusl begun. Elsewhere in the province there are to be seen many instances of stock standing on isolatcd patches of high ground. Some losses occurred through sheep being washed away in the flood waters as they swept across low-lying farmlands in elose proximity to rivers and streams. Heaviest losses among grown stock have been among ewes whieh have gone down in pools of surface water and died before they could, be reaehed.