THE FLOOD AT GREYMOUTH.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 213, 29 February 1872, Page 7

THE FLOOD AT GREYMOUTH.

(Abridged from the " Grey River Argus")

The rain which resulted \\\ this heavy flood began ,to , fall on Wednesday, and during all that night it fell so constantly than many feared' the occurrence of an unusual fresh, but nothing more. Expectation was excited as the rain continued throughout Thursday, but the suddenness and extent of the flood exceeded all expectations. Towards afternoon the waters rose rapidly, and some time before dusk they had overflowed the protective yvorks, and were streaming into the back parts of the town by all the cross streets. Before this time precautions had been taken by the Mayor and others to warn the inhabitants of all the low-lying parts, and to remove all families who desired to be removed. Towards dusk the number of emigrants from these parts increased, and all the principal hotels became crowded with family, groups and their household gods. As the rivers reached the level of the protection works, and streamed along, the streets, storekeepers exerted themselves in erecting ingeniouslycontrived barricades at their front doors, &iid these were for a time serviceable in preventing the influx of the muddy water until goods were raised from the floors, but subsequently all buildings were more or less flooded, and householders and storekeepers patiently waited, knee-deep in water, for the subsidence of the flood. This did not come until midday on Friday, and the incidents .which occurred in the interval— incidents alarming and amusing — wonld require a record columns long. The front street— if street it can be called — was surrounded by pedestrians, of whose pedal extremities little was seen ; drays were busily employed in removing goods from low-lying stores ; and boats plied from place to place, removing beleagured families or bold individuals who held to their* houses long after they were. safely tenable. It seems to be a feature on these occasions that ladies take to " lying-in " just on the eve of a flood, and more than ' one who had become a mother a few hours previously had to be removed by boat, or iv the. arms of friends, from the quiet of the sick chamber to the noisy hotel. In these instances it was well that the precaution ot removal was early taken, for nearly all the .houses on the flat on which the principal part of the town stands were soon , surrounded ard filled to the depth of several feet.. The first buildings to float away were four or five small cottages, in critical positions on the bank of the Tidal Creek, which intersects the town. Some of these canted, collapsed, and sailed away with the stream with all their contents, and became completely wrecked " as they collided with the Tramway Bridge. They thus became a contributory cause of the carrying away of the bridge itself, which now lies/ with the tramway rails, and a mass of debris, as an enormous barricade to the traffic of Hospital-street. Other and smaller bridges gave way, and all communication with the terraces was interrupted except by boats. In- $wo instances the little houses which were here swept away floated from their slight foundations with such short notice that their contents went with £iem, and the Samaritan spirit which became so generally prevalent for the next twelve hours was first exercised in saving the few articles of furniture t>r ornaments which were found floating about. .As the evening advanced,- every street in the town was under water, and the current at corners and along the streets at right angles to the stream was so swift, that walking was dangerous work, and swimming was "often the involuntary resort:

The destruction of the block to the , sea-board of Johnston-street is. of course, the great feature of the effects of the flood ; "but? in every corner of the town there has been some destruction of property, which, at another 1 time, would < be prominently recorded |by the para^rapbist. At the foot of the cliffs which form the south side of the Gorge, are situated a number of. boatmen's huts. ~The water was all round these, shifting some and laying level others. Immediately below the boatmen's , huts begin the protective' works, and here begins also the' work of destruction. The stonework still stands, well washed; but the wodden piles protrade themselves like the quills of the fretful porcupine, and they serve as a sort of preliminary introduction to greater damage further -down. This damage has been done to ! the Custom House" Wharf — an ancient and holiest structure which has been shorn of its fair proportions. As far down as the Transit Shed, it has gone bodily into the~~river, bearing down with it two barges,, one belonging to. Messrs. M'Lean and Co., and the other to Mr. George Martin. In the latter there were eighteen tons of coals — an item only of Mr. Martin's losses, for at the other end of the town his coal wharf and hotel, the Cove of *Cork, were both included in the general disappearance of property: Below the Transit Shed the same wharf is wonderfully'and fearfully contorted, and as a whole its days may be said to be done. RhodesV Ferry Hotel and Rudd's store, shared in thie general ■ flooding;. An enormous body of found its way into the Tidal 'Creek utterly destroying the Harbour Master's garden, also the gardens or .Mr, M',B«tb, Postmaster, Mr. Eevell, E.M. and . Mr.

Andrews, Collector of Customs. In all the buildings here, including- tha Post-onlce, and Telegraph Office, the water stood from three to five feet according to their elevation.. From Captain Allardyce's house, Mrs."; Al lardy ce, at the time in a most delicate condition, had to be removed in a boat to Johnston's Hotel, where many others found shelter. In front of the Telegraph Office, a gigantic snag deposited itself, after knocking down a telegraph post, and temporarily suspending the communication. Moored at -the lower end of the Custom House Wharf was the steamer Dispatch, with steam up and anchor out, and there she remained in safety, but in her vicinity a humble structure occupied as the wharfinger's office came to grief. " From this point down Mawhera Quay presents the appearance of a well-washed shingle-bed, but is perfectly safe for traffic. The footpath is different. Great gaps have been made in its surface alongside many of the buildings, And it was one of the flood's freaks to make these gaps usually in front of the bauks, hotels, or leading stores. They were dangerous trips while the water was flowing, and will require some amount of filling up. before the pavement is restored to its pristine state of roughness for thin-soled pedestrians, but the worst excavation of this description was achieved by the flood in Tainui street, where tons upon tons of soil were removed. So in Boundary street was a great transformation scene effected to the detriment of a wonderful design in drains by .the Town Surveyor, but to record all the superficial changes in the street would require a special work. The -beginning of the disaster was at the remote end of the town, and from that end upwards building after building reeled and fell as the water undermined the foundations or beat upon the walls. Of these buildings the majority made a straight course for sea, with all their contents, except their living inmates, who made hasty escapes. Others were carried landward in the direction of the head of the lagoon, and two of their number occupy sites on the Camp Reserve, while a third, that of Mr. Dale, is deposited, completely converted, in Arney-street. One house only of the whole block was left, and with it the flood performed the freak of turning it pompletely round on its 'foundations. So thorough was the sweep of the river frontage ac this part of the town that nothing now intervenes between the river bank and Strike and Bkcktnore's brewery, and that establishment now forms as irnportanb a feature in the architectural aspect of tlie town as it does in. the list of local industries.

Perhaps the most extraordinary scene of wreck and ruin was that presented in Arney-screet, and especially alongside the Camp -Reserve. The buildings which had stood in the. front street were simply conspicuous by their absence. • But their contents, and the contents of some scores of other buildings, were much more conspicuous by their presence and distribution in a state of the " most admired disorder " alongside the Coutt-hTouse fence. Here were furniture and fixings of all sorts, mixed in the most extraordinary mai> ner — in such a manner as to require almost the art of a conjuror to select from the mass any two articles belonging to oue house, but among the heap of stuff the evicted owners of domiciles were diligently searching for something or other, which they never appeared to find, and possibly never would find. Beyond this scene of wreck, there was another further seaward — a shingle beach where all the sheets of galvanised iron' had congregated as in one common cemetery. In many other parts of the town cemeteries of some kind or another are discoverable, and if a census were taken of all the dogs, cats, and poultry which have been done unto death by the flood, it would, no doubt, form some serious reading for the humane members of the community. :