THE FLOOD AT HOKITIKA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 142, 4 October 1876, Page 2

THE FLOOD AT HOKITIKA.

The West Coast Times gives the following account of the flood at Hokitika : " The flood of Friday and Saturday morning was perhaps the heaviest ever experienced in Hokitika. It was at its highest about one or two o'clock on Saturday morning, about which time it suddenly fell, owing to another channel having broken out direct to sea near the flagstaff. Although, however, the water subsided

for a few minutes after one a.m., it was not until one or two p.m. on Saturday that the low-lying portion of the town resumed its wonted appearance, and the water was diverted to its natural channel, the river. All around, the Post Office and Custom House, and, in fact, all the Quay was covered with water. . Fitzherbert, Tancred, Hamilton, Sewell, and other streets, suffered to leather more than the usual extent in time of floods, and householders in those streets will have good cause to remember the night of the 22nd, and the morning of the 23rd September, owing to the excessive inconvenience and obnoxiousness of the water. We hear, however, of no instances of any great damage being done. Housewives will have to lament, as usual, over spoiled carpets, and the departure into space of sundry household articles and utensils, but beyond that there is nothing serious fo record. From the country there is as yet little news, but there is no doubt that the damage done in various localities will be found serious. At Kanieri, the whole of the lovr-lying flat was covered with water at the height of nearly a foot above previous experience. A great portion of the Christchurch road has been washed away, and all the protective works in com'se of erection by Mr. Butler, the contractor, lave been destroyed. The road further up lias also suli'a*ed considerably. The iiort'.iern anproach to the Arahura Bridge ;vas washed away, and of course traffic on Saturday was entirely suspended."