ANOTHER HEAVY FLOOD!

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 21, 10 June 1867, Page 134

ANOTHER HEAVY FLOOD!

[7BOM THURSDAYS TIKES.] When, some ten weeks ago; we Had the unpleasant , duty to perform of recording the occurrence of a storm in the Bay, which flooded the Spit and endangered some of the buildings,—and' when, in our last issue, we described the temporary subsidence of a flood' which had devastated the flat-lying lands of the country district, and added, that “ another south-easter was by nomeans, an improbable contingency,”—— we little thought how soon we should have to chronicle another still heavier flood than either of these, one, in fact, which combined the peculiarities of .both, in that, while the Meanee Flats were submerged to a depth of from 1 to 1| feet more than was the case last week, the Spit has also been flooded as it never has been before in our memory.

The high tide of the 12th March was at that time the highest we had experienced during oUr residence in Hawke’s Bay, nor had we met with any person in whose experience such a one had occurred ; hut that of Tuesday evening last was considerably higher—several dwellings and stores which had escaped on that occasion having been flooded on this; and, had this been accompanied by a heavy gale, as that was, there is no room to doubt that, a breach would have been made by the sea 1 over the: unoccupied land fronting the Commercial. Hotel, —the action of the sea during the long continuance of the southeasterly weather having been to carry away many hundreds of tons of shingle, aud render the Spit: much narrower than it was ever known to be before*. Happily, it wasnot blowing so hard as before, and we tnwt the danger is now' past; This flood; was higher in town than that' "of last \Weeki as might be gathered Ifromi what s^,—the hi|ia.:in tha exfrenie:idistance to th© town being one 'vast ''sheet-' of .water B .;

man r |quare~mileß in extent 1 ;-and -a great number of houses that escaped then were O fcourse, as there can have 'heen'nolbmmunication with the outlying districts, we are nnable,,togive,any particulars of father; damage done Ito aljock. and iproperty fceyond the: facts W we "have already stated. The -bridges remain intact, with the exception of jthe temporary structure fronting the Shamrock Ho* tel, which had been made to replace in some measure that which was before washed away,; and which is also gone* But we fear that when full accounts come in we shall hear of destruction of property to a much greater extent than that given. True it is that ; the warning received last week would inakethe settlers more thah usually careful, but in many cases we can but'see that all their precautions 1 would be injvain. These occurrences \ however seldom, it seems we must < be always liable to, and it becomes' an absolute necessity that some* j thing should be done to prevent j a recurrence of the disasters they oc* casion. What the nature of these re* medies may be, we must leave in the bands of parties more conversant with the science of engineering than we * can pretend to be. The : flood of the 12th of March was almost if not entirely owing to the south-east gale, there having been little or no rain to speak of fallen about that time; and it was at the time of the moon’s first quarter, or neap tides. Now, the flood has been owing mainly to the rainfall, for though the moon was but one day old, and in consequence spring tides at their highest, the wind ' has not been so high as it might have been; otherwise we fear that we should have had a more painful task even than that which has fallen our Jot to fulfil.

We believe that steps will be taken —under} the recommendation of Mr Weber, Provincial Engineer, and the approval of Mr Balfour, who has opportunely arrived at the port*—for the preservation of the Spit from further inroads of the sea. The plan consists in depositing a layer of lime stone boulders on the beach, and repeating the same as soon as such layer is covered by the shingle from the Bay. The plan, we may say, is simple, comparatively inexpensive, and, so far as we can judge, will prove effectual for the end desired'.