WATER RECEDING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 April 1938, Page 7

WATER RECEDING

VAST AREAS STILL COVERED IN HAWKE’S BAY BIG RESTORATION PROBLEM MAN’S BODY FOUND IN HOUSE (By Telegraph—Press Association). HASTINGS, April 27. Forty-eight hours after the peak of the flood on Monday night, water is still rushing over the concrete surface of the main Hastings-Napier road at Whakatu and on the same road tonight there is at least four feet of water in the dip near the Karamu Stream. Enormous quantities of water are still covering thousands of acres of farm and orchard lands at Pakowhai, Whaaatu, Mangateretere, Clive, Taradale and Greenmeadows. The general position, however, has considerably improved and flood-waters in the three main rivers are falling hourly.

The major problem now facing the authorities is restoration of road communications throughout the district, and this in some areas is likely to be a formidable one. The chairman of the Hawke’s Bay County Council, Mr F. B. Logan, and the engineer, Mr R. Puflett, will make an investigation of flood damage in the county tomorrow. Mr W. J. O’Connell, clerk to the Hawke’s Bay County Council, said tonight that damage to roads, bridges and culverts throughout the county was undoubtedly very serious, but there was no possible chance of assessing it at present. There had been no communication with the Waikare Riding since the flood and the area there was a closed book as far as the county was concerned. The county had over 60 men working on the detour road between Bay View and the Esk Valley as far as Waikato’s Corner. Hundreds of settlers throughout the county were unable to leave their homes because of damaged roads.

The first life known to have been lost in the floods in Hawke’s Bay is that of Mr Edward Mclntosh, whose body was found in his dwelling at Tangoio today. Mr Mclntosh was an elderly man and lived alone. He was recently discharged from the Napier Hospital, and it is believed that when his home was overwhelmed by floodwaters he was too weak to make a struggle, and died of exposure. His body was found in bed in a room in which were several feet of water and silt. Because of the enormous masses of silt in the vicinity of his home,, it is utterly impossible to remove the body'for burial, and it is probable the coroner, Mr A. D. Bedford, will give authority for burial in the vicinity of his home. SILT EVERYWHERE Mr M. O. Lock, patrol officer of the Automobile Association (Hawke’s Bay), went into the Esk Valley today, and said tonight that not a green patch was to be seen anywhere in the valley. Silt was lying to a depth of four to 10 feet. There was silt in every room in every home in the valley, varying from six inches to four feet. Motorcars were filled with silt and in some cases buried. In the Puketapu Valley a car could get only two miles beyond Puketapu toward Hakawai. The Dartmoor bridge, on the Puke-tapu-Hakawai Road, is down, one span only remaining on the western bank. The Napier-Puketiritiri Road described as a continuous line of slips and the road in the Patoka Gorge, has completely slipped away. A tour of the flooded areas at Whakatu, Clive, Mangateretere, Fernhill, Taradale and Pakowhai, today showed that there were very few places that had been flooded which were entirely clear of water. Where the water had subsided people were busily clearing away debris. It was a common sight to see cattle and sheep still being transferred to drier ground. Many herds of cows driven from waterlogged paddocks oft to the comparative dryness of the roadside, were placidly eating hay. Thousands of sheep were seen crowded into small paddocks after being rescued from flooded ground. PEOPLE MAROONED Unless there is a speedy clearance of certain roads, food will have to be taken to marooned people by aeroplane within the next few days. Because of the Anzac Day holiday on Monday giving a long week-end, many hundreds of Hawke’s Bay people went to Taupo, Wairoa and other places, and many of them are now unable to return. Many of these people are in out-of-the-way places and the food problem is becoming serious. SURVEY BEING MADE INSPECTIONS BY MINISTER AND ENGINEER By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, April 27. Steps have been taken by the Government to ascertain the extent of the flood damage in the Hawke’s Bay district. The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon M. J. Savage, stated last evening that the Minister of Public Works, Hon R. Semple, who was unable to leave Wellington himself, had sent the chief inspecting engineer of the Public Works Department to Hawke’s Bay to ascertain the extent of the damage and to report to the Government as soon as possible. The Minister of Mines, the Hon P. C. Webb, would also leave by aeroplane this morning for the district.