WANGAPEKA FLOOD

Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1929, Page 5

WANGAPEKA FLOOD

. FARM LANDS DESTROYED. SETTLERS LOSE EVERYTHING. WESTPORT, September 18. With three miles of the road washed away, and Scobie’s Bridge completely destroyed, settlers in the upper reaches of the Wnngapeka Valley have been, deprived of their means of livelihood. Mr A. C. Bagcand,.. Public Works Engineer, has just returned tfrom ‘Tan inspection of the devastation wrought in the' valley through the earthquake dam bursting in the Little Wanganui River last-Sunday week.-- ■ ( • The settlemefit is very isolated, the only means' of - access being' by boat when the bar'is workable; or by . a strenuous tramp . round --the fugged

coastline. , • , v J . The settlers near the mouth of the gorge suffered very: besides losing their stock;, and buildings. The flood waters scoured out the fertile land, leaving in'its' place a rugged area, strewn with 1 boulders. It- 'is impossible for the settlers to start farming, pursuits - in the area agin. Scobie’s Bridge,, a sixty-foot truss

span structure; 'has been completely washed away', the only sign left being the bruised end of. a pile protruding ' from a heap .of boulders. The road, from half a mile below where the bridge stood, to the entrance to the gorge has been'completely obliterated; ; and there is no. reasonable possibility of it being reconstructed.! Settlers in ? the lower part of the valley, while not suffering to the same i extent, are in an unenviable plight Fences have been knocked down and the land covered with timber, silF and other debris. There is ho, hope of getting any return' frpni the land this season.' - V '' y V

At the time when ,'the flood burst all the top-end ' settlers ; were down in the lower , part of the valley ; otherwise there ‘would have been heavy logs .of life! .•' 1 1 : . ’ ’

The dam must have burst, suddenly, and a Jiuge'volume of water, compressed ,by the spdd,enly,;flung into the valley,.Hherpad of which .was destroyed. It; t was eventually • to. be constructed ,v to.Mount Radiant, where several promising mining ventures;were being " considered. ’Moutit Radiant is said to possess the r most valuableijmin,eral deposits in'; New Zealand, and pro 4 gress in developing these has been' hindered by the ! lack of access. Now it is almost definite that no attempt wil} be matje to open up the road over the ruins left by the flood. ;