DISASTROUS FLOODS IN THE SOUTH

New Zealand Tablet, 3 April 1913, Page 29

DISASTROUS FLOODS IN THE SOUTH

I SERIOUS DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY || * The heavy rain experienced in Dunedin towards the end of last week ceased early on Saturday morning, and, although there were some showers during the day, all fear of a flood was dispelled. A considerable quantity of water lay on the Taieri Plain, and the river rose rapidly, but no serious damage is reported. The l ( Waipon River was in a state of high flood, and was I the cause of a serious mishap to the Dunedin Corpora- * iron’s intake near the electrical works. There was exl ceptionally heavy rain on Thursday in the Balclutha ■t district, and Friday morning the Molyneux River began j to rise with alarming rapidity, the rise in less than j twelve hours being eight feet. By 7 o’clock on SaturI day evening the flood had reached the 13 foot mark, j a point which has not been reached since 1878. Were | it not but . for the heroic work of a number of the ! townspeople in stopping the leakages in the protective 1 works serious damage would have resulted, | The most disastrous flood experienced in the Gore t and Mataura Valley occurred on Friday evening. The j flood was expected, but proved unexpectedly serious. I The whole length of the Mataura Valley suffered severely, and the losses are enormous in stock alone, 1 thousands of sheep and hundreds of cattle and horses ,i being lost, and the carcases carried away by the rushj in g waters (reports the representative of the Otago Daily i Times) . All the crops still out on the low-lying Waime’a t Plains are irretrievably lost. Gore and Mataura were i .particularly hard hit. At Gore half the private resideuces were submerged several feet. Appalling, though * less devastating, damage was caused by the flooding of / ; the shops in town, particularly the drapers. Large con- . • signments of sugar, 'flour, sago, tapico, etc., were re- | duced to waste, and the booksellers, bootmakers, and j other trades suffered great loss. Windows and mirrors f were smashed, and goods were washed out of the shops.. f/ 'O’ l a rough estimate the damage in Gore is I £IOO,OOO, and in the district, including the whole of ( the Mataura Valley, £150,000. One draner at Gore ( estimates his loss at £2500, and another at £ISOO. . Other tradesmen put their loss at-from £6OO up. Only r one small shop in the whole town escaped. Stocks of tea, tobacco, rice, and tons* of groceries have been ruined. Cases were broken, and good floated down stream for miles. Tons of sugar melted away, leaving only the sacks. . 8 At Mataura the river rose with great rapidity. It broke its banks at 9 a.nr. above the town, and all the houses above the paper mills and to the west side of the township were swamped in a very short space of time. A great panic ensued, the people flying from their homes and women and children being rescued in carts and taken to safety. One store and one hotel were the only business places flooded, all the shops in Bridge street escaping. The coal mines have been flooded. One house on the river bank and a two-roomed cottage were washed away. The floods were the most serious experienced in Southland for 30 years. Railway traffic was completely dislocated through washouts and miles of railway being under water. The losses of stock is very heavy. At Waianiwa, where the flood waters seldom penetrate, one farmer* lost 150 sheep, 13 cattle, and two horses. Mr. Dodds, a farmer at Mataura. lost a thousand sheep. One hundred and fifty families in Mataura had to be lodged on higher levels, and 105 people took refuge f ln the paper mills all day on Saturday, food being sent -ito them by means of a wire. Otautau reports that a man named Younger was drowned on Saturday when attempting to rescue some stock. One farmer at Makarewa estimates his loss at £6OO, and there are many others who have suffered equally with him. The most serious floods for many years were experienced at Tapanui on Friday and Saturday. Continuous ram fell, 248 points being, registered" at the State Nursery. Kelso town was flooded, and much inconvenience was caused to residents, besides minor losses of property and damage.

A Christchurch message stated that, as a result of a nor'-wester on Thursday and Friday the Waimakariri River on Saturday was in high flood. A good deal of the flooded area was in potatoes, and these will be ruined if the water does not get away quickly. Several big crops of beans are likely to be washed away. On the arrival of the first express from Christchurch on Saturday at Ashburton the passengers were greeted with the announcement: ' Rangitata bridge unsafe. All passengers for south of Rangitata will be conveyed by trolly over the river.' Four piles of the bridge spanning the north branch of the river were washed out, and the bridge was rendered unsafe for railway traffic, which, in consequence, was completely disorganised. . ;y A howling gale was experienced throughout the West Coast on Friday and Saturday morning, the result being floods in all the local rivers. Much damage was done in all directions. The approaches to the Taipo and . Wainihinihi bridges were completely destroyed, whilst damage wrought to the Teremakau bridge will cost at least £4OOO to repair.