SOUTHLAND FLOODS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 76, 31 March 1913, Page 9

SOUTHLAND FLOODS.

,GORE UNDER WATER. TEW FEET IN THE HOUSES I i PEOPLE'S RETUGE OTJ ROOF. j A PANIC AT MAT AURA. (Bj , To It , graph.—Press Association.) GORE. SUNDAY. Tii ,l Hood yesterday was the most dip- j astro'.H ever experienced in Gore and iiuuura Valley. A ilooj was expected, fint i; proved unexpectedly serioi!-. X ":y town lor the whole length of thi' Mnuuru Valley sufl'iTed severely, ami tin , !cis-es are enormous in stork alone. Thousands or" sheep and hundred.- 01 c-ittie and horse? have been nil i ciiri'itvo? carried aw.iv lv the rushing v.iUT I" the Mataura bland or out to pea. All the iTiip* stiil ulii nn the lowlyiiifj W.ihiici! l v ,uin~ have heed irrelrievably lo ■*l. Tlie river a', times was a litt'T i:t •.hf'uvr--. sheds, and debris o! all description*. lisiip .1 ud Mutdiira <i:iTereil particularly. At <.oi-.. half the private re-i ;lcnie> wpri- Mibiuorwfil -everal fe>-t, and 6ome 10 the extent of lOfl. This aspect o* ]'■>-■= is nppallinff. thoujrh le-.-, serious thp.n the dcv:i-t-itiuj: thiniuge can-ed by the flood wiirpr- to the shops in towri. The drnprrv trade w.i- probably mo->t sprinu-ly ;]iiei-t >d. while in the provision st"X- !-:;■■_• iii~i:riMicnt> of -\i^. lr . (lour, sa?n nod i.,pio,:i vvi-i-p mluerd to vraftp. IViokseller*. boot makers and nih"r IV.i'lr-. -IUo -ntrcv.'d prniM loss, Tvinrion> iiinl mirrors lieinp; and po-jds washed out of the .-hops. Pro.-lir! 11-- nn one e a '-apprl -ome 10.-s. A TIMKI.Y W.\nxiX<;. The ni.ifriiitude of the flood was not an; i ;p.ue.l. ()a Friday evening it

rained heavily, and the rivers w?rc runninjr full b'lt not near high flood level. At midnight a 1 was well, but sh-ortly before 3 .i.m. Un Saturday the rppcated flanging of :he fire bells'and the sonml of steam whist!"- warned fhe residents of approaching danger. Those who heeded the warning ) ia d little difficulty in e-eaping. r.tauy who turdilv heeded the waruinc. not realising the dange.- in V'- en.lp-.vonr to «»vf their lious-uulil eiTc-rs. had great difficulty in escaping.

The river burst over its hank.-, and finally came ..wr the W-aimea railway line. In l e s- than twenrr minui.es the

street- were tran-formed into raging torrents four to five feeL deep. Rescue pur. tip.- were speedily organised, consisting of men mi horseback, and horspa and •traps, w-hilp '>ter in thp dny boats and rafts \vprt> requisitioned. HAZARDOI/S RESCUE.- , . Between 7 p.m. and 7 .>.m. tlio water rose 2ft. and reached beyond the highest pt.t recorded during the historic flood of IS7S. At 0 a.m. tl:r water was at its Vigil!, 'flip ir:iin street was then a raging torrent and quit* inipa?sablc. 8.-bris yf ail <IPS.M-ipt.ions— meat *afes, teiepraph poles. f O wl«. shorn, r-aftlp, ''Wp ti7n!>rr. and all manner of refuse— wnt down the current, providing a strange sighf.

On. .SaturdHv afternoon Ue ivwua parties fii-t visit Ol [ thp lowpr-Iying X The work was hazardous.'and ii somrume? positively daujreroue. There fi ■were many excitin? ineirlents and narrow escape-., rre* no loss of life. People on the. holier InvoN made o P e n house, an-l fe<l aid clothed the unfortunate sufferer.=. wi.n «■«.,•, literally washed out of then- hnn.es. The hills .. nd ierra.es of \Acst l.oi-p wore throned all day. hi-:kv(;k ox tiik books. I here wore many c:\-r~ of -trikin" self.saeri.u-e. ; ,,,, ; V pi ,, ; . r ... ~,„; the memher- .:f Slr< M .. Hurtun Brothers" tin-iis. v.iio. with ;;,e help of their horses t res-ones) whole Mrepis of families who c despairrd .it lii-Miip means ~f rure-.s t<, i hills. M.iiiy risked (heir lives hi ef- i fe-;-tinjf roswjps. Xnrnhers of L ;,e htriok- t en resident- had to lenirin on Hie roofs t of the hou#u- until Into in i he afternoon i before im-y could In- i.iken to. sa fety. Ay- t romnioflalion w.ic found i< r the ir.a'jnrity i in liie i-pi-iiloiKe- nf the more turtunatf c towns]ieiiplc on the Ink Others -Oapr in tin whonlf. All v. h>> eouid supplied < food. :.ml neijrlibourinpr farms scTit in i q'.uintilie«. i D \MA< X OVICH il.")0,d00. One longh estimate of the damage in Gore pliuTf it at £100,00(1. and for t!ip . di-tTir-r-', in ■•lm'inrr t'-.o whnln of the . Matoiiru %'iiiley. at U.'n.OOn. One (Irjiprr :i Uiire caiimatos his lot-s R tj. f2..")i>o. i'.unfher ai Cl..'ioo, iim! other .Irade-incn trcmi tiiOO up. Only one small shop in the whole town e«nppd. Stocks of tea. tohae-o. ri.-p. and ions of jrroccrip.i vere niiiied. There were burst fii.-pv in all (luiM'tioiH nn the fliH.irs and in the main sticci. Shop v.indows witp lnokMi. iiii.l jt-.imV fl'i-.iteil down (he sii-piiru Mir miles. Toui. ••; -.il'.m- melted awjv, on!\ the sack- left. little liiead arrived from Inverrargil! last nialit. but not Curr ,ii-"vnnt« an uriu.-iiiil spectacle for Sunday afternoon, the -iiop?. lieintr open. and )icc-.ile l.iyinir in a stock of sucll provi«;t;ihs :•> are available. The Uorouph ■will suffer severely, the road* in some en-es 'i'oinir .i!in"-t strijiped of metal. All five .banks wrm inundated with -vater. and the slalT* were enquired in ■wringiup water out of banknotes and documents. The trade-people are linable 1C -.-t the Ur.oks nut. of their safes in rmny ca.-es. Owinp to the swellina of the paper card ledgers have burst, and the deeds and documents arc reduced to a hapele-.s state. DAIIAOK AT MATAI'RA. A vidit io the Waimea Plains this afternoon shov.erl that only the main valley of Mtttiurn and Wai'kara Rivers has been seriously afTected. The Rivers-dxJe-Switzers railway ha.« lieeu badly rUmapeil. and it will probably be some time before trains can run on tllis Ibram-h. At Mataura town the river rose with preat rapWity. It broke its Ibank? at S) a.m. n-bove the town, and all ihe houses a.bove the paper mills and on the west side of the township were swamped in a very slnrt space oi time. * ureal panic ensued, people flyinff from their homes, and wom-n and children iH-in" rescued in (.-arts and taken to safotv One store and one hotel were the only business places to be flooded. all the 'shvpn in Bridge Street escaping. The coal mines have been flooded. One house on the river bank, and a tworoomed ootta-gp were washed away. A ■washout occurred on the railway line below the town, the line being mWt damaged between t'liarlton and M«tanra Two bridpes on the W-ainumiu Stream, and onp at VVailrana Stream, were washed aw.ay. The damage at the tas teen considerable. mc

freezing works also suffered a good deal | of damage, especially in the electric light department, wliich. will 'be disor■ganised for a few days. All along the M-ataara-Gore Road dead .-.heep and theaves and 'bags of corn are hanging- in the fences, ilad the flood occurred at an hour earlier during the d.irkness. the reenlle must have been calamitous, and 1»* of life certain. The iiood was very exteneive in tie wrtKern disiricis. reports indicating that there have been extensive waehouw on she railway at Fairfax. Oporu. Makarewa. and W'inton. and alfio north of Wimon. A report received from Otautan stateg that a man namwl Younger wae drowned r.n Saturday when attemjrting to rescue some stock. One farmer at Makarewn cstimatee his lr«s at £(UX>. and there arc many otliers «iio have suffered pijiially with him. Wvndliam is rnmpletely cut off. and it is feared that the traffic bridge over the M-ataum River, i-lnee to the township. h:us been carried away. Xumeroub road and riilw.iy bridgw in various [i&ns of Soiu'iLhii'l have been destroyed.

WAIMAKARIRI IN FLOOD.

'By Tclc=r:ipli — Press .Vi=9ociatioii.l CHRISTCHfRCH. Sunday. 'Aβ ,i result of the heavy north-west wind on Thuredny and Friday the Waiinakiriri River on Saturday was in high flood. Ai 11 o'clock in the morning the I North Road, from Chaney'e, was iinpassI ,i!i!e for cars or cyoles, but traps could gel along. About half a mile past the Kmpire Bridge the water wae at a deptli of 2ft Gin. I ClarkviHe dii-tric-: was also flooded. In m:\ny places the water was up to the lop of the fences, with dead fiheep floatinj; down the main eiream in large nuni-Iji-iw. A froofl (irnl of ihe flixxled area i.s in p=n α-toess. ivhii-li will be ruined if the \vateT doe~ not i;et away quickly. Several bij? crops of beans are likely to be wached away, The marlman from Kaiapoi could not pel thmugh to Coutts' Inland nn account of ;lip flood. The wa'.TS hid Kiilwided lV five oVlix-k. B-.kt'.i expresse-; from the couth were delayed for two honn= \-,u>\ night. Tile ferry steamers held back to connect w il'n tiie. second.