KAITANGATA.

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 222, 11 October 1878, Page 7

KAITANGATA.

[from our own correspondent.] The recent flood has fallen with most disastrous effect on Kaitangata. The people in the lower parts of the township began to leave their houses on Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday every person was engaged in {removing their property to higher ground. The churches and schoolrooms presented " the appearance of immigration barracks on the arrival of a home ship, and many took refuge in Wangaloa, where it is needless to say they found a cordial welcome. The water in the submerged parts stood at from three to eight feet deep. On Tuesday morning the river made two breaches in the sandspit, and thereupon the real work of destruction began. The water, finding such ready means of egress, began to fall too rapidly, and tore up the river banks frightfully. Mr Harvey's barn and stable were the first buildings to get carried, away, and speedily went out to sea. The Kaitangata railway bridge was only s/dved by being fastened with chains, the piles being in part completely undermined, and communication will be suspended for some time to come. Along the river bank, from the punt to the bridge, five or six immense chasms are made in the roads, and some houses are completely undermined, while in some cases the gardens are washed entirely away. The farmers round have suffered very severely. Mining operations are in meantime suspended, and cannot be resumed within six weeks at the earliest. The telegraph wires were broken on Monday morning, but will probably be repaired soon. Mails are now being carried to Stirling by boat. Everything is at a standstill, and the district is put back at least two years through the flood. Happily, no lives were lost, and the horses and cattle were in most cases saved.