Floods in Hawke's Bay.

Manawatu Herald, 9 December 1893, Page 2

Floods in Hawke's Bay.

Practically all the stock in dive and Papakura perished. Some of the people had miraculous escapes with their lives. One woman, who with six children sat on the top of the roof of her house all night, states that between 12 and 1 o'clock on Monday night she heard a mighty roar, when the Tukituki rivei burst its banks, sweeping everything before it. So sudden was the rush that there was no time to even save the stock, and no possible means of escape except to climb the roof The younger children went up first, and then drew up their mother. A dreary night followed, as the rain fell heavily, and nothing was around but water for miles. The family, only scantily clad, eat on the roof till 7.30 the following morning, when they were rescued by a boat's crew. Another woman, a widow, was alone in her cottage, and suddenly found her bed floating ahout the room, f hft water rising higher and higher. It is reported that she climbed on a dresser shelf, and sus - pending a pocket handkerchief from a ring in the roof, clung to it all night. Previously she had clutched an empty box, which she held in readiness, and if the worst came to the worst, could jump in and float about till rescued, having placed a jug in it as a bailer. In this suspended position she was found at 7 o'clock in the morning and conveyed to a place of safety. It is marvellous how all managed to escape, and that there was not loss of life at Clive, as the boats crews in some instances had to prize the weatherboards of cottages open and let the people out at the gable end. The number of people thus rendered homeless and destitute, and whose condition calls for immediate aid, cannot be less than 200, and it probably esceads that figure. At Chesterhope, near Hastings, and on the properties of Messrs Kelly, Midgeley and McGreevey, no fewer than 20,000 sheep have been lost. _______«_ '