INCIDENTS OF THE FLOODS.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1059, 19 November 1877, Page 3

INCIDENTS OF THE FLOODS.

The late flood in the Duller river was the cause of loss of life in at least one instance. It appears that three roadmen were camped near Berlin’s place, John Lines and M. Cary in one hut and a man named Bell, recently a patient in the Hospital, in another hut. The two first named found, the water rising rapidly on Sunday morning and got up from their bunks to prepare for danger. They warned their mate to turnout also but he neglected to do so until the water was entering his hut. Meanwhile the other two getting hold of a ladder had secured it by supplejacks to a tree and mounted the branches for safety. Bell, at last aroused to his danger, got on the top of his hut and remained there for some time, his mates advising him to prepare for a swim, and if he found the hut going, to strike out for some saplings near at hand which might give him a firm hold.* At last the hut was carried away and Bell struck out as directed, and managed to get a hold, which ho retained for an hour or more, but then, benumbed with cold, his hold relaxed and his mates saw him washed away down stream. He made a last frantic effort to save himself and again got a grip on some timber, but could not retain it and was swept away. The road men who had been employed by the County Council were in a sorry plight, being left without food or blankets, and some of them in places from which they could scarce get away until the Hood subsided.

At the Inangahua J unction the river rose about 45ft. above its ordinary level, backing up the Inangahua on to the main road, overspreading Christy’s paddocks and rising 3ft. in the house, which the inmates had to vacate. Prank Courtney’s and Ruben Waite’s accommodation houses were also flooded, the inmates having barely time to clear out on horseback, and take refuge on the hills at the back. When the flood was at its highest, Christie tried to reach his canoe, which was surrounded by water. He tied two logs together, but they parted in the mid'stream, precipitating both Christie and his assistant into the flood. They desperately grasped the log, which rolled over them several times. The man was unable to swim, and was drowning, when Christie assisted him on to the log, and by using his hands for paddles succeeded in struggling to the bank, thus narrowly escaping being drowned.