SOUTHERN FLOODS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 110, 10 May 1923, Page 5

SOUTHERN FLOODS.

DELUGE AT KAIKOURA. SEA BLOCKS RIVER OUTLETS. ROADS BLOCKED BY LANDSLIDES. BRIDGES WASHED AWAY. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) CHRIBTCHURCH, this day. I The heaviest flood ih Kaikoura'e history is reported. Rain commenced on Friday and continued on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The district inundated through heavy seas stemming the rueh of watere at the mouths of the river. Land elides on roads at Blenheim and to Chrietchurch blocked traffic, and telephone and telegraphic wires are down, thus isolating Kaikoura. Middle Creek rose over the bridge, which is impassable oil the North Rouri. Kowhai River overflowed the brirt-'i , on the South Road. Residences near the banks of the Lyell stream suffered heavily, the water being over a foot deep in one residence. The water at the Dairy Company's office wns up to the door handle, a depth of three feet at Flowers' 'Corner, and shops were flooded. Shops on the other side of tbc road at a lower level suffered heavy , damage, there being four feet in the shops, and much stock was damaged. West end residents were forced to J seek refuge in hotels. Long Creek Sawmill was washed away, and hundreds of cords of wood, with an engine and sawbench, were lost. Linesmen 'have been landed ateKaikoura to repair lines. They are equipped with a harpoon gun to shoot wires across swollen streams. The rainfall so far is 25.8 in.