FLOOD AT DAIRY FLAT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 162, 9 July 1907, Page 2

FLOOD AT DAIRY FLAT.

SBEIOUS DAMAGE TO THE KATLWAX.

As a result of the torrential downpour on Tuesday and Wednesday (says the *North Auckland Times"), the Kaihu railway section has been flooded and damaged to an extent unparalleled since it was first constructed. .

One feature of the recent inundation is tie unprecedented rate at which the jrater has risen, the Eaihu Creek being set a normal height when the train came down about noon on Tuesday, and haviag risen with such abnormal rapidity that very early on Wednesday morning the rails for some milp. and a-quarter sPere submerged.

When the flood subsided it was found iiiat serious damage had been done to the line, every particle of ballast for about a quarter of a mUehaving been swept away, and no trace of it being seen, though at tins spot, because of its special liability to flooding, the ballast was of a particu■btdy heavy kind, consisting of huge stones and weighty shingle. Sonic idea of the extraordinary force of the flood waters may be gathered from the fact that bulky heads of trees, ponderous roots and big unwieldy snags, that had come to be considered permanent features of the landscape, hase been seized by the on-rush of the water and swept like straws across the railroad into the adjoining paddocks.

In one place, for a distance of about ifiye ' , *"*Tntt J rails, sleepers, ballast, and earthwork were driven out of their original position some IS yards, the rails being fantastically twisted like thin wire into writhing curves, and the foundation of the railroad being as bare and flat as it was before the first shovelful of earth -was thrown upon it. it is anticipated that the gang of men now busily repairing the damage will have patched up the line sufficiently to enable the train to gete across to-day."