FLOOD DANGERS

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1926, Page 1

FLOOD DANGERS

TV/O MEN IN PERIL. EXCITING SCENES. WELLINGTON. May -I. Two residents of Lower llutt, Messrs E. Davis anil Harry Duthrie, have reason to consider themselves as fortunate in being alive. They are employees of the Public Works Department, and are employed on the pontoon-borne steam navvy that draws shingle from the llutt Kiver between the Lower Hull River and the new railway bffidge. The men started work at six o’clock yesterday morning, but had no sooner commenced their duties when the river suddenly rose three foot in as many minutes, coining down with tremendous force. After a series of adventures, and with the assistance of companions on the shore the two men succeeded in making dry land in an exhausted state. The machine on which tho men worked is placed in the middle of the river bed. and the shingle it lifts is used iu the construction of tho approach to the new railway bridge. When the men began work at (i o’clock the river rose very suddenly, as it frequently does after heavy rain and its startling force .swept everything before it. The men were cut off from the shore before they had time to realise their danger. News of their plight quickly spread, and in a very shorttime the eastern and western banks were crowded with people. Davis and Dutliie endeavoured to make the dredge sale while those on shore concentrated on rescuing the men from their seemingly hopeless position. Try as they would, tin- unfortunate men could not make ilie dredger last, and in tho words of Davis, “ It was time to

get out.” Dulliie tried to swim ashore, hill linderesliniated Hie power of the current. and was carried to a telephone pole, a number of which stretch across Hie stream at this point-. He grasped the polo, lull, il carried away. Ho succeeded. nevertheless, in reaching another, and climbed as high as he could up it. Meantime, the water gained in height, while the onlookers from both sides of the river became distressed.

Davis the while was busy with his own difficulties. His feelings of the moment are well illustrated in his words to a “Post ” reporter: “T was certain the game was up, and I was, to he honest, almost all in.” At this point Davis was not aware that his 151-year-old son had stripped naked and had challenged the baffling current to save his parent’s life. The boy dived in hut the rushing waters heat him. He was lifted on to the hank in a had way.

Then arrived on the scene Mr Robert Baddy, an employee of the Public Works Department. He sized up the situation in a Hash, and he too stripped and entered the water. Tie put up a wonderful fight, but the odds wore against him. and when ho returned to the hank ho was almost spent. Dutliie and Davis, however, were stilt at the mercy of flic flood—Dutliie watching the waters round him while the pole to which lie clung swayed in a sickening fashion; and Davis, who had sought safety on the cog-wheels of the derrick, was more than uneasy as the navvy lifted and lurched. By this time the river hanks were thronged with people eager but helpless to save the two men.

Meanwhile Messrs TT. S. Tiirvev. F. Kershaw, L. Glennie. H. i tzmaurice. and Arthur Moore, made for Gear Island. secured a boat, carried it over the bill, and with the aid of a lorry deposited the boat on the beach. Here Kershaw and Glennie set out to the rescue. Once again flic.current baulked matters. Fndaunted. Kershaw took tho boat upstream and floated it with the aid of the current to the navvy. As lie passed the now almost submerged dredge, ho commanded Dutliie. who was still clinging to the pole, to jump. He did so, and landed safely in the boat. Davis eventually swam ashore, but was just about, at his last when he reached land. Great assistance was given by Mr A, Downer. (Assistant Engineer, Public TVorks). J. Barnett (Overseer, Public TVorks). and Varney (Assistant Overseer. Public TVorks Department), Martin Phillips and 0. TV. Clout. The rescue is the fifth of the kind made by Air Kershaw in two years. On all sides he was warmly congratulated on the way he handled the hoar. Tiessrs Dutliie and Davis, after receiving necessary attention. • were able to proceed to their homes. Their experience will, no doubt, live long in the memory of each.