FLOODS IN THE SOUTH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 739, 23 January 1915, Page 5

FLOODS IN THE SOUTH.

! BLUFF RESERVOIR BURSTS. MUCH DAMAGE DONE. NO LIVES LOST. . [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Bluff, Friday. The Bluff Harbour Board's reservoir, full to the brink, burst last night at 5.30, as a result of over three inches of rain falling in the last 24 hours. Six million gallons of water poured down it to the Western portion of the town, doing immense damage. No lives were lost, but several narrow escapes are recordecf. Most people were in their homes at the time, it being tha evening meal hour. The first indication of the coming disaster was a sound like steam escaping. At first Jittle notice was taken, as the creek running from the reservoir had been in flood all day, and it was thought that the noise emanated from there. As the noise became persistently louder, people began to realise that something out of the ordinary was the matter, and just before the debacle took place it dawned on them that the reservoir had broken, and this few seconds saved life. Then the deluge swept down. ' Id all, fifteen residences were submerged, and six business places flooded.

Estimates of damages, including the cost of re-building the reservoir, vary between £IO,OOO and £12,000. Invercargill, This Day.

Lumcden reports that at Mossburn, the Oretai river is in higher flood than it was' at the big flood two years ago.