HAWKE'S BAY FLOODS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIV, Issue 10067, 14 March 1924, Page 7

HAWKE'S BAY FLOODS.

THE WATERS RECEDING.

STOCK LOST NUMBERS 5100.

(Per Press Association.) NAPIER, March 13. Conditions north of Napier are not yet definitely ascertainable, but it is expected that telegraph and telephone wires will be available for use to-night. To the south of Napier all material damage is confined to a small area. Two unimportant roads are blocked, !but the main roads south all are open. The total sheep losses are confined to a mile square, where up to 5000

sheep and 100 head of cattle are lost, previous estimates being exaggerated. Settlers on mustering found that their losses were not so serious a® anticipated. „ All the water has left the roads, which in some places are under two feet of silt. Rissington Bridge, which stood 27tt above normal water level, had spans of 90ft washed away, but this only affects inland traffic. The weather to-day was overcast and windy, but no rain fell, and the flood waters got away well. The rivers, which rose as much as 14ft, are now down to sft or 6ft above normal. A lot of water remains about the lowlying parts. All telegraph lines to Taupo have been repaired, and one line was got through to Gisborne today, also one to "Wairoa. Officers of the Defence Department consider that the equipment submerged at the battery camp, Eskdale, can all be recovered. It has been ascertained that 14 huts at the Public Works camp, Waipunga, on the East Coast railway, were carried away by the flood on Tuesday. The body of Thomas Hill, one of the employees, has not yet been recovered. One of the most serious losses is the destruction of the big bridge, 181 feet long at Rissington. It was built in three spans, one of 90ft, and two ot 45ft. From the bottom boom to summer water level the measure is 27ft lOin. It will cost from £4OOO to £SOOO to replace the bridge.