FLOODS IN THE SOUTH.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 211, 16 July 1887, Page 4 (Supplement)

FLOODS IN THE SOUTH.

CIIRISTCHUECH, July 9. The weather is threitening, with showers. The floods are rapidly subsiding. The works erected on the south bank of the Waimakiriri River for the protection of Christchurch are damaged to the extent of L3OO, portions of two concrete embankments being washed away. Considerable damage to roads and bridges is reported from all over the northern districts, but no loss of life has yet been reported. Greymouth, July 9. There is not as much damage up-country as was anticipated. The river has fallen very much, and there is no longer any danger from that source. There is a great improvement already in the appearance of the town, the municipal authorities having put on a large number of men with horses and carts to remove the debris. Some settlers at Coal Creek Flat are entirely ruined. They have lost cattle, horses and everything. Many were rescued just in time from the tops of houses. One man was 36 hours in a tree before being rescued. The settlers there are mostly dairy farmers, and the loss of their cows is a sore blow. At Peadman's Creek eleven men were on a log from Tuesday night till ten o'clock on Wednesday morning, when they were rescued by Mr Laughton, manager for Brown, contractor, who improvised a raft, and floated them off. The log was caught by a root, and there was 16 feet of water under it. A woman Avas rescued from her house by taking a sheet of corrugated iron from off the roof. A number of pigs, still alive, were taken out of the forks of frees. Among the incidents of the flood may be mentioned that some pigs were washod iuto a public house on the Grey-Reefton Road, and they perched themselves on the billiard table. There were many narrow escapes from loss of life, but happily no fatal accident has been reported. It is impossible at present to arrive at any estimate of the loss, but it is safe to foay it amounts to tens of thousands of pounds.