OPOTIKI'S CONDITION.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 April 1918, Page 8

OPOTIKI'S CONDITION.

NO WATER NOR LIGHT. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Opotiki, Last Night. The town is still without water and light. A party of 30 volunteers, including prominent citizens, proceeded yesterday morning in motor cars with shovels to the slips on the road preventing access to the breakage in the main water pipe. They cleared the slips, but it will probably be a further fortnight before temporary repairs can be effected to the pipe, but there is a possibility of arranging for a amall supply from a waterfall on this side of the breakage. The lack of water in the borough is causing considerable hardship. It is difficult to obtain sufficient for drinking purposes. Cleaning operations are almost at a standstill. Many settlers in the back country are Cut off by slips, and will not be able to reach the town till the rivers subside sufficiently to enable them to travel by the riverbeds. Big slips in the main road to Rotorua near Opotiki are obstructing vehicle traffic. Probably it will be two months before the road is reopened. Tivo streets in the borough have been closed owing to a serious wash-out and damage to a bridge. Thep lias been no publication of The Guardian (the daily newspaper) since Tuesday, and publication cannot be re-' Ruined till the electrical power is restored. Opotiki, Last Night. Several head of cattle that were swept out to sea by the flood subsequently effected a landing on the beach between Opotiki and Ohiwia. They have been recovered by the owners. The coast is strewn with carcases of sheep, cattle and horses. Immense quantities of driftwood have been washed up on the beach.