THE FLOOD.

Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 285, 9 November 1867, Page 2

THE FLOOD.

Most providentially the fate which on Wednesday night imminently threatened , a great yartiun of the town oi Gcreymouth, ! was averted by the gradual retreat of the ! flood when the tide began to ebb. But ; for several hours after high water the lower i towQßhip was in great jeapovdy, through the breaking up of the bank protection. Huge piles and,plankß were floating about and dashing violently against some of the buildings, threatening every moment to 1 daph them clown. Against bhe ironh oi/ 1 the Empire Hotel and the two next buiWings a mass of th^Be heavy timbers had . accumulated, and was forced so strongly upon the hotel that the f ronMvall was . shattered through in several pkces. Had that building carried away ftos more than . probable that many ofcher^must have fol- , lowed, as the current/although somewhat lessened, was stifl strong enough to , commit vast havoc ji a single breach had been made throtujJi the block of buildings. At daylight,, the town presented a most melancholy picture of ruin. Nearly the whole length of the costly embankment that had only just been completed was found/to have been destroyed, and when it » seen how the heavy masses of timber, bolted together by strong iron bolts, i/had been dislocated and separated by the i action of the current, some idea could be i formed of the narrow escape the town had made. The lower portion of the work was the first to go, and was entirely swept away. From the lower end of the wharf about ten chains of the protection had been forced inwards towards the river, in places lying almost flat down.' Further down another long length of the work had been utterly destroyed. The upper end" of the wharf showed signs of injury, several of the piles being' quite loose and hanging only by their connection with the top works. - The current had evidently scoured out a deep channel close to the bank all along the front oi the town, and washed away several feet of the shingle into which the piles had been driven. Their hold being, thus lessened, and the water having got in behind als o, loosened the whole structure. A very general opinion amongst the public is that the piles for protecting the bank had not been driven in' deep enough to withstand a flood. Some of them appeared to have been driven in only about two feet, and even those that had been down deeper had too long- a caper. It it quite evident that the work had not been designed of sufficient strength. But it is also equally evidenr that ao long as it lasted it was the means of saving probably the greater portion of the town. Ihore can be little doubt that but for the embankment at the end of Boundary street the river would have forced a channel through the bank and have diverted a volume of water that none of the buildings could have withstood. And the same of the whole fr< ntage of the town, for bnt for the prot ction that existed no one can doubt th t immense mischief would have been don?. The lower township presented a sad ; picture, every house having been swamped, ■ L. some cases several feet, and the flood had left behind a thick deposit of mud on ' everything the water had reached. The ' | tales told by the unfortunate occupants ! are a strange mixture of the comic and ] serious. but extremely ' ; uncorafortabZ^jgcidenta occurred. In ' some houses the occupants had seated themselves on tables and drawers, where without jfire, they had to remain for - hours until compelled to abandon, their < homes altogether. There was much distress occasioned to the women and ' children, many of whom in their hasty ] retreat had not provided themselves with 1 dry clothes, and in some cases had been i rescued out of bed. Very praiseworthy * exertions were made in. the succour of the distressed families. We must particularly < refer to the efforts made by Captain Allar- i dyce and the crew of the harbor boat, Mr 1 Aitken (District Engineer), and also by j Mr Montgomery who, with his praham and crew, placed himself at the public i service without fee or reward. 1 Of course the newly formed roadway ' along the iront oi the town has been de- \ stroyed in many places, and the footpaths have similarly suffered, great gaps having 1 been cut as the water rushed underneath I the houses. The loss of property has } been confined to a few instances where i persons had not time to shift their goods < from the ground floors of their premises, \ but we believe that in mo^t cases the 2 damage was not very extensive. The £ Tramway Shed was full of goods waiting transit, and they were all swept away. * We are sorry to learn that Messrs Jajs.'i Hamilton and Co., of Rutherglen, had-« £70 worth of goods in the shed. AU th^| books and papers of the late Tramv^^H Company, and of the present proprij|^H of the line, were lost, it being^imM^^^B and really unsafe to attempfc|^^p* tJle V building when fears w©r^^Pp^ r s j safety. The shed it^^^phed to % pieces on the beacTpS>nl>^j^F powder jfl raagapine. A nui^e^tii^F^P that v ere^H

pent up in the stockyard, at thi end d? Boundary street, were only just mteJcl ir tinje, ag they were then swimnmugggnt m the closepacked enclofjflHfj^^H'A river are very distressing. J^H^^^HL took his boat/ and n W^MH^^HKr Pritchard, andyrent with a "3H^^HKb township. /He arrived just ttPBMP critical tiryfe, and was iortnnate^H^B convey several boat-loads of women^» ciiildron to high ground. *WheodKy iuaclied the town all the buildings Wets nv>re than half-covered with water. Mi tjie Police Camp, the wife and children W rilv 'Warden Lightband were in a mJB pitiable plight. Thej^ had been placed V; hieh up near the ceiling as possible onm pile of iprag^i afld^ the water having g« over the top of the'dbbr and window theß were in perfect darkness', and without means of egress. Mr Langton and hi man broke in the gable end of the house and got them out safely, and conveyei them to a high terrace in the direction (j No Town, where a camp had been forniei for the numerous refugees. All tin horses, cattle, and sheep in the neighbor hood were lost, gardens- were utteMy deff stroyed, furniture was drifted awam ami, the goods in every store damaged, I At Reel Jack's, the store there»ta/j swamped and the bridge carried 4»-/ At Nelson's Creek, Mr Brosnan's % 6 and hotel were lost, together with a v% able stock of goods. At Blackball I similar state of things occurred. At t»i jnnction of the Arnold and the Grey, thl two houses on each side the river Arnola were carried away, and the family residing! in one of them had to sleep in a boat that night. Further down the river great havoc was done. A fine large market garden near the Coal Mine was uprooted and destroyed, as also another garden near the Race Course. The bridge near the Race Course was carried away, and the road entirely obliterated in many places'. A great many landslips have occurred along the road to the Arnold, which with fallen trees and stranded snags have rendered the track almost, impassable At Coal Creek and on the agricultural flat between it and the river, the residents were all flooded out, and in some cases had to take refuge on the roofs of their dwellings. The, extensive garden of Mr Nelson has suffered severely, and he must be a heavy loser. We regret to say that two cases of drowning have been reported — one of a bf.y, the son of a market gardener near Coal Creek, who was carried off whilst attempting to fish out some floating articles from the water ; and the other of a man at Nelson's Creek. It is possible that other cases may come to light, as the extensive district that was under water is dotted over with isolated parties of miners who wonld be unprovided with boats. On Thursday evening Mr Bonar, the Secretary for the Gold Fields, accompanied by G. S. Sale. Esq., and Mr Roc! - i fort, District Engineer, came up to inspect the damage done to the river bank, and to devise means of temporarily repairing it. We understand that the Government intend to at once provide for the immediate necessities of the case, and steps will be at once taken to effect such temporary repairs us will at least secure the remaining portion Of the embankment, pending any future arrangements for restoring the work.