FLOOD FATALITY AT PAPAROA.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3447, 29 March 1920, Page 4

FLOOD FATALITY AT PAPAROA.

MOTHER AND THREE CHILDREN DROWNED.

A MAN MISSING

PAPAROA, March 27.

A sad drowning fatality resulted from the heavy flood in Paparoa River last night. A 'railwa_v worker employed in the Upper Paparoa Valley was camped near the river With his family, and ‘the flood suddenly rising, overwhelmed the camp, the wife and three children being drowned. The husband succeeded in rescuing the rest. of the family. Another man is still missing‘, While another, :1 bridge-build er, was rescued after taking refuge in a tree for six h6urs. Constable Boag (Was promptly on the scene of the accident, and with volunteer helpers rendered effective service.

FATHER’S FUTILE EFFORTS. :_

FURTHER PARTICULARS. AUCKLAND, This Day. Matthews was awakened at 4 am. by the water which reached the beds in which himself, wife, and family slept, He swam ashore with the baby I'e’rul'ned, and placed the others on the roof of the dwelling. Tzhe flood swept the cottage away. Matthews rescued another child, but the mother and three children were swept away, the dead bodies being rec’ovel-ed later. Mr Pearce, a resident of Paparoa, was seen swimming, and his dead body was recovered later. One man was rescued from a tree after six hours. A woman was recovered from a tree in night attire, with her infant.

It is reported a motor car fell ’f'hl'o‘.‘_’_'.‘x a. gap in a bride at Waiapu Gorge. The car was wrecked, and the body of one of its‘ occupants, a returned soldier, was found later. The fate of the other occupants is unknown.

At Sutherlandfs boardinghouse the women refuged in an attic. ‘The Water rose three feet above the floor, and then subsided. There has been considerable damage to road construction works throughout the district.