FLOODS AT REEFTON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 449, 16 January 1909, Page 3

FLOODS AT REEFTON.

Roads and Bridges Destroyed.

Reeeton, January 15

The district has been visited by a storm unequalled in violence for vears. It lasted two days. The steady rain resulted in the creeks, already greatly swollen, becoming roaring torrents, sweeping down trees and bridges, and washing away everything movable. The damage done is calculated to be enormous.

The Inangahua County Council is a heavy sufferer. Two piers erected in connection with the extension of the waterworks now in process of construction were washed away, with the derrick, ropes and appliances. A large number of concrete pipes constructed on the banks of the Inangahua were washed away or destroyed. Rosstown, a suburban district of Reefton, had its main road washed clean away, isolating the electric works, which were only supplied with coal by a passage made through some private gardens.

All road communications are cut off.

The damage done in Murray Creek is tremendous. A big block of trees occurred, damming up the water, when tire boom burst, the water carried all before it. The main traffic bridge over the Inangahua river was endangered by the mass of floating trees, but it stood the strain, though greatly shaken. Great slips occurred all over the district. Communication between Black’s Point and Crushington is cut off. Reports are still coming to hand of fresh damage and disaster. At Waitahu, where two branches of the river re-unite, the flood was the biggest on record. Acres of land were flooded, while a number of sheep belonging to settlers were drowned.

The potato crops have been ruined in some places. Reports are still coming to hand of damage done.