THE WEATHER AND THE FLOODS.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2233, 4 July 1870, Page 2

THE WEATHER AND THE FLOODS.

(From the Cron veil Arfjn*.) On Thursday sight we were visited with a heavy fall of enow; ami os Friday corning the ground was completely covered to the depth of several inches. There was yery little rain in this quarter, but more snow fell ou Friday night, followed by light rain on Saturday forenoon. The Clutha and Kawarn u rivers commenced to rise ou Friday, and continued to increase in volume until Saturday night, by which time the Clutha had risen at least 12 feet above its ordinary summer level, quid the Lower Flat was almost wholly under water. The Kawarau was so hi-'h that the wire rope formerly used for crossing M'Cormick’s punt t> the Cornish Town aide of the uver was dipping in the water. The small island farther up the river was almost completely submerged, and we arc informed that the flood was almost as high as that experienced here in 18(3.1 Vast quantities of drift-wood were boug’t down from Lake Wakatip by the curr u , and ou Saturday the north b. i k of Mm river was lined fur a comider.ii.jO dia ”c.e with men, women, and hoys lis.. ng Oty pieces of timber for fire wood, Wt T pul i imagine that at least a hundred cords of wood were taken o it of tfje river between the Cromwell coal-pits and the confluence of the rivers. The supplies thus obtained will prove during the winter a welcome auxiliary to the lignite fuel of this treeless region. I’ainful evidences of the destruction caused by the flood higher up the river, in the form of dead cattle aud sljccjp, wheelbarrows, cradles, and eves

swage, were from time to tine seen floating by. At the Bannockburn* <F.erry, all comlU'inication was stopped for some time, and up till Monday afternoon foot-passengers could only be crossed with great difficulty by means of a small boat. The road to Queenstown has, in many places, sustained serious damage so much so that wheeled traffic was stopped for several days. The road from Kawarau Gorge to Edwards’s is described as all but impassable, Mr Simpson, district engineer, _ left for _ Queenstown on a tmr of inspection on Monday. The telcgraph-po’cs are down in many places, and communication with Queenstown has been suspended for four or live days. According to the accounts which have reached us, the Lake district has suffered severely. Sergeant Tassels, who came down here on Sunday, informs us that the rain fell in torrents at Queenstown from Thursday night until '■aturday morning, and he states that a more continuous downpour he never witnessed in this province. The Sergeant left Queenstown on Saturday, aud on arriving at the Morven Ferry, he found it impossible to cross in the punt, there being about ten feet of water covering the landing stage on either side of the river. Being anxious to proceed, he induced Mr Owens to attempt to swim his horse behind a small boat. The boat was carried down the river for a considerable distance. The Sergeant’s horse by some means got underneath the boat, and was with great difficulty saved from being drowned. The Shotover is stated to have been, within a few inches, as high as in the flood of 1863, and much damage has been done. The dredge was carried away. The last that was seen of it was at Maori Point. This will be a heavy loss to the owners, as it cost over L 600; The river claims at Big Beach and Arthur’s Point were much injured. Of two men who wont to save a boat on the Big Peach, one got drowned, and the other narrowly escaped. The Lake is reported to be very high. The Arrowtown correspondent writes : Last Thursday the weather became a trifle too open. From that afternoon till Saturday morning, rain—incessant, pelting, pitiless rain—culmina e l in another great flood of the Arrow, From accounts received, it seems the greatest damage was done in the Twelve-mile district. Every c'aim on that creek and the Arrow river there has suffered more or less. Down the river, the damage done is said to bo trifling, till, at the townsti p, the pent-on waters broke through the dam of the Chinese claim, Daylight on Saturday shewed it a waste of desolation, the torrent tearing over the eight months’ work of from 20 to 40 Chinamen. They have had everything either swept away or buried- the two water-wheels aud pumps in the latter class. The claim has cost them upwards of LI2OO. The flood on the Shotover has seldom been equalled. Fears have been expressed that the water might some day cut off communication at the new bridge. On Saturday, this was all but the case, The flat at the Queenstown end of the bridge was completely submerged, travellers on horseback finding the water up to the saddle flaps, and that, too, with a considerable current. The water in the Kawarau was backed up till within'a few inches of the level of Lake Wakatip.