THE LATE GALES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2092, 4 September 1867, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE LATE GALES.

Wo have receired the following accounts from our correspondents in the various districts : Thb Hbatiioote. During the recent rains this river rose to a height which lias been unparalelled during the last eight or nine years. The heavy rain and the melting of snow on the Port hills were visible in a thomand rills pouring down towards the valley, anil becoming confluent in the gorges mid gullies formed torrents which made their way rapidly to the river, 'n the road-side, between the bridge and the old forry, and onward through ilie valley ami up the Bridle-path, almost continuous small landslips gave evidence of the large quantity of miter which had washed over the hill-sides, and the softer parts of the Bridle-path itself were ploughed up into channels by the rushing streams, Even the Godley fountain, which is generally dry at midsummer, wli'm its water is needed, was now in full flow to swell tho deluge. The effect of all this water poured into the Heathcote, and combined with it spring tide, was to raise the river upwards of three feet above the level of ordinary spring tides, and to flood all the low-lying lands adjacent, The hous 0

of Mr Dixon, the boat-builder at Ileathcote whieh stands at the bend of the river by the old ferry, was completely surrounded to a considerable depth, the water being close up to the back door. Many spars and planks lying on the shore were curried away and others were swept inland and left dry when the water had subsided The piece of land lying between the river ami that part of the Ferry Itoiul which is now disused, except as an approach to Mr I-iixon's house, together with the road and a large area of the ground above it were flooded so deeply that a boat was rowed across a portion of it; and in this neighbourhood a house was flooded, the water rushing in on one side and passing out to lower ground on the other. The damage done however does not appear to be great, as most of the houses were beyond the reach of the water, and but little of the inundated land was under erop. But between Heatbcote street, a street lying parallel with the Ferry Road and connecting 'Mr.. Antony Knight's Wharf with that of Messrs livuiioand Gannon and the river, there was abouf>a.i acre and a-halfof low ground belonging to Mr Smith, cropped, over which the water flowed to a depth of at least two feet; and the crop appears to'fun been destroyed. Mr Knight also has been a sufferer by the loss of timber from his wharf; and he is the onlyo eof the four wharfingers on the river who has sustained loss. The water completely overflowed this wharf which is hardly on a level with the river in spring tides ; but it was unable to do more amongst the heavy stacks of timber than to disperse a few of the boards, except in one instance, A stack recently unloaded from a vessel had been placed on the edge of the wharf adjacent to a part of the stream where the water is very deep, and it appears that a heavy squill must have blown this stack down into the deep water alongside, which enabled the current to carry it away. The stack consisted of 2954 feet of timber. At the wharf above Messrs Roberts and Co's, some timber was lying on very low ground, and a boat was rowed between the stacks; but none of the pieces were carried away. Okain Bat.—On August 4 a very heavy storm was felt on the Peninsula. The wind from the S.W., with heavy torrents of rain, continued incessantly for a week, causing an extensive flood. We are sorry to learn from all parts that much damage has been occasioned by the immense quantity of debris brought down by the flood and deposited on the paddocks in the vicinity of the. various rivers, and also by numerous landslips, by which, and fallen timber, the various bush tracks are rendered quite impassable. Akaroa,—Our Akaroa correspondent describes the weather in that locality as being very severe, and. that great damage has been done to roads and bridges by land slips, and the great rush of water caused by the

continuous rains, In Akaroa, the road leading from the jetty to the French part of the town, was in parts under water, whilst part of the made road between Watkin's bridge and Lucas' has been partly washed away. The bridge in German Bay is washed away, and the road between Akaroa and the Head of the Bay, is in many places impassable, owing to the heavy slips that have come down. Timaru,—A correspondent, writing on August 1, says:—Since Monday, we have had strong South East gales with incessant

rain and hail. The streets are almost impassable. The sea is running high, and the surf terrific. The beach road below the CustomHouse, is partly washed away, and Strathallan street has been shortened about 12 feet. The works of the Landing Service recently completed, are as yet uninjured. It is fortunate there are no vessels in the anchorage, as they must have come on shore. Early on Monday, the schooners Margaret and Blackwall, with ironmongery, for Reece and Co., put to sea, with only part of their cargoes discharged.

Ranoiora Swamp.—During the recent heavy rains the farmers and residents in the Rangiora swamp and vicinity of the Drain road have sustained very heavy losses. In some places water was from two to four feet deep, iind no dry land being immediately available for removal of the cattle, many of them were commpclled to stand in the water without food for a considerable time. The damage to fences, whether composed of sod banks or posts and rails, has been very great, and the roads have all been more or less cut up. The drain road was from one to three feet under water from the Girder bridge to within a short distance of Flaxton Church, and oecasionalplaees beyond. The newly laid metal has in many places been washed away and the road much damaged. Prompt measures have, however, been adopted, by the Road Board and repairs will commence so soon as the water has disappeared. The main drain was much swollen and carried away several culverts and private bridges. Oxford.—lt began to rain here at noon on Monday, July 29, and continued till night, when snow commenced to fall till Thursday morning. It rained again without cessation till Friday night. The whole district is covered with snow, and near View Hill the snow lies in some places nearly four feet deep, and the average depth of snow on the whole district is, putting it at the very lowest, at least one foot. The rain coming after the snow caused a flow of water, in all parts, and even in the town, with all its improvements, many of the inhabitants have suffered great inconvenience, the water actually being in the houses j this, however, would have been avoided had the main drain been cut further westward towards the bush. All the traffic is of course stopped and the sheep stations must severely suffer. The farmers on 'the lower part of the town will also suffer considerably, as the water will wash out the grain already sown. The oldest settlers in the district declare

there lms not been anything like the past week's weather since their coming to the place. The spacious shed at Mr Fenwick's saw mill lias hail the roof smashed in and much damaged by the weight of snow that fell upon it, and it is very probable we may hear of much more damage being done. The North.—Each successive day adds to

the list of disasters resulting from the late weather in the district north of the Ashley. On the Mount Grey Downs upwards of a dozen culverts and small bridges have been carried away, thereby temporarily closing the roads, whilst the damage done to fences and other property is very grest. At the Kowai and Waipara the telegraph poles across the bed of the stream hare been washed away, and the wires now lie on the ground, whilst the Weka Pass and the new stone bridge in coune of erection across the creek was entirely destroyed, Further north the damage Uas been equally great, whilst the loss of sheep and lambs has surpassed anything ever previously known, as many as sixty of the latter beinij foil nd dead in a group on one station An eye-witness of the destruction of the Weka Pass bridge describes the water as coming down suddenly in one immense body, and literally raising portions of the masonry many feet into the air, whilst the spray rose to a great height. At the Ashley, the stream on August 7 was almost level with the

buttresses of the bridge. This, however, is not a continuation ot its first rising, for on the previous Saturday it had subsided almost to its usual level, but the nor'-vesters of Monday and Tuesday brought the snow down from the lower ranges, and caused the river to again rise. On the north bank, after crossing the bridge, the water was up to the girths in many places, and stretched right across the old bed to the cutting. Two tele(jrapli posts wore washed away, and the wires falling to the ground presented a dangerous impediment to travellers, being right across

the track and under water. Thev still remain so', but we think it highly necessary that they should either lie raised or cut at <>nce. Amidst all these disastrous accounts, it is fortunate that we have n. loss of life to record. A slight fresh bus appeared in the Wiiimakuriri, but not of sufficient magnitude to cause serious alarm, I-rrru; Akai.oa. Our correspondent, writing on August 5, says:-Little Akaloa hasagam been visited with such a flo nl as the oldest inhabitant has not seen equalled, the rain, which eommsneed on Monday last, continued without abutment until Thursday evening, although we ha.i it snowery until Saturday. The damage has ken very great. Large landslips have occurred all round the hay, thereby stopping up all roads The residents in the hay were afraid to retire to their beds, for the crashing of timber and the rolling of large boulders from the hill-tops sounding like distant thunder. The tramway bridges are carried away by the flood. Mr Bailey, who had his outhouses carried away bya landslip, has since lost his dwellinghouse, and nearly everything is destroyed. An hour after the catastrophe there was nothing to be seen but the chimney standing; everything pertaining to the house was either buried in the mud from the slip, or otherwise floating in the creeks which were swollen the size of rivers, and rushing towards the sea, took everything before them. Many of the inhabitants living on the hill sides deserted their homes and sought refuge and shelter with their more fortunate neighbours in the middle of the bay; still the rain continued, and even the more venturesome began, to be frightened. The shipping has been rather busy, this weal. The Diligent and Linnet, ketches, and bird, schooner, arrived during the week, dn Saturday evening the Anna, ketch, and Excelsior, schooner, both belonging to Dunedin, arrived; they were discharging cargo at Oamaru, but the weather was so violent that they were obliged to slip their cables, and stand out to sea with six other craft. They have not seen anything of the others since they left on Tuesday. They came here for provisions and water, having run out of both articles. On Sunday evening we had a heavy fall of rain and snow, accompanied by a strong gale of wind from the S.W. The weather still looks unsettled ; the waters are much abated, so that the state of the roads can be seen.

Tniinca.-After enjoying thus far into the winter most magnificent weather, this place and district are now experiencing some of the roughest description that this climate affords, and are receiving, in an accumulated form, the arrears of rain, for which agriculturists have so long been hoping. It was not until very few weeks ago that rain fell in sufficient quantity to enable breaking-up and fencing to be proceeded with, and for weeks during which the streets of Christchurch

were described as in a state of almost impassable mud, the inhabitants of this district were luxuriating, week after week, in cheering sunshine. But a change came at last. On

Monday, July 29, the rain began to fall, and continued with steady persistency until Friday evening, varied on Wednesday by heavy storms of hail and snow. The Temuka river, the tributaries of which drain a very large extent of country, gradually rose, and! very shortly after the coach crossed on Thursday afternoon, became quite impassable, having risen 5 or 6 feet beyond its usual height, and completely filled its bed from bank to bank, On Friday morning, whea Cobb's coach arrived at the south bank of the river, the driver, Mr Griffin, at once saw that it would be an absolute impossibility to get the coach over that day; but, aided by Courie, a well-kiiown Maori, who is fearless in the water, succeeded in crossing the|mails. We fear that the flockowners in the back country will be heavy losers, as there is more snow on the ranges, than has been seen for several years, and even on the downs their are many dead lambs. When the flood in the Timuka, subsided, it was seen that the river had made a considerable inroad on its Northern bank, and washed away part of the main south road. At this place the river was crossed by a substantial foot-bridge, erected at considerable cost, some two years ago. The north end of this bridge extended several yards on to the bank; it now stands in. deep water, three yards from the bank, and will need extensive addition as the next fresh will probably wash away still more of the approach. The rain which ceased on Friday night, recommenced to fall heavily on -unday afternoon, and further bad weather seemed impending. The West Coast Road. Accounts suggestive of serious disasters begin to come in from the outlying districts as to the effects of the storm. The plains, beyond a radius of 20 miles from town, have been covered with snow to a greater depth than has been known for many years. The inhabitants of the Malvern district all say that the gale surpasses anything in their previous experience of the country, The snow began with the wind at S.W. on Monday, 29th July, about 11 p.m., continued with furious squalls till on mid-day Wednesday, at which time snow three feet deep lay on the ground within 26 miles of Christchurch. Towards the hills the accumulation of snow was incredible. A reliable informant who crossed Porter's Pass on Tuesday afternoon, says there were about three feet of the tele-

»raph poles visible near the Pass and between

there and Lake Lyndon. He himself drove his horse out before him and followed, taking the side of the hill below the road, which latter was completely filled up. It is probable that the weight of the gale was not feltbetween Porter'B Pass and the Bealey, though there can be no doubt that more snow has fallen there than on the eastern side of tha range. The greatest depth of snow will probably be between Starvation Gully (east encT of Lake Lyndon), and Craigieburn, where it fell without ceasing till late on Friday night, being about 90 hours in all. On the eastern slope and plains the wind moderated somewhat on Wednesday, July 31, at midday, and shortly afterwards veered to 5.8., and blew violently with at first sleet, and finally rain, which continued till Friday night when it abated. On Saturday the wind changed to N.W.,witha very hot sun, which, with the previous rain, caused the snow to disappear from the lower plains in an extraordinary manner. All the small rivers, fed by rain or drainage of the plains wero very full. The Hawkins, an insignificant brook, became a torrent; the Selwyn, the Kowai, and Little Kowai were all much flooded, but are now retiring to their usual dimensions. Theeffectof thewindon tuelFest Coast Teleßraph was surprising. From M'Hae's to the railway at Selwyn, a distance of about 28J miles, most of the line stands broadside on to the S.W., and wherever this is the case, the wire was broken and insulators wrenched off at least 6 poles in each mile; in general, the nails holding the insulators were drawn out and the wire lay in fragments, in some cases a chain to leeward of the poles. We have seen some of the nails, which aro twisted and broken in a cuiious manner. Mr Bird and his gang have been working night and day, and tho line is now nearly reinstated on the plains. Wherever the line stood quartering the gale, not the least damage was done, and as this is the case through the whole of the country beyond the Kowai, it is hoped that when repairs are finished on the plains, communication will be complete, unless the line is absolutely burr' in the snow, which may be feart'd. j to damage to stock must hare been in and We have not received definite aconists and but this being lambing time, uic say that as news may be anticipated._ Awn practical returned from the Rakaia his honourable sheep were being dug out.e loudly calling scores, / many hadexto live under the