DESOLATION AND RUIN.

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

DESOLATION AND RUIN.

-RIVER FLATS SWEPT CLEAR. I THIRTY INCHES OF RAIN. (By Telegraph.—Preae Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, Wednesday. Incredible as it may seem to those outside the locality, the fact remains that from the time the rain commenced Jon Friday morning until 0 a.m. to-day the rainfall recorded in Waiau township was ltl.TSin, and, at "Keinton Combe," the still more phenomenal fall of 30.81 in was registered. I On every hand there are scenes of desolation and ruin. The lower lands around Waiau township arc covered with silt to a considerable depth. Debris of every description caught on fences and trees bears eloquent testimony to the height the flood waters reached. River fiats which for many years have been good grazing lands are now barren, every vestige of vegetation having been swept off. Farmers have come into Waiau township on horseback, the only means of transit for any distance at present, and all testify to the tremendous alteration in the configuration of the country in the different parts, l but all state they have not yet had an 1 opportunity of ascertaining * their loss Jin stock, though all agree the losses must be heavy. No description in words can convej any adequate idea of the alterations in the landscape. Actual eeeing only could convey a true picture. On Lyndon No 2 settlement, the fences have been swept away in all directions, and small watercourses have become riverbeds. <)l(i watercourses, which perhaps yean ago carried water in times of flood, hul which for as long as the oldest settlm can remember have been dry. and lr I which cabbage trees and willows hav< 1 been growing for Htnny years, have beei scoured out. The cabbage trees hay« I been swept away, willow trees 2ft is I diameter have been torn out by tin roots, and a bed of shinglo some cliaiin in width remains to give some slight ! idea of the volumes of water that ewepi across the country. I It may incidentally be mentioned tiial I one farm residence stands some 20fi | above a stream. At the highest poini ! of" the flood, a rise of another 2ft woulc I have brought water into the house. Hcsvv losses have been sustained ir J the Coldstream district of Xorth Canter j bury, where there ie scarcely a houst J that is not surrounded by water. tr i some instances houses are eubmerfjet jto a depth of 2ft. Their occupants have been removed to safety. Losses of produce and live stock are serious. A farmer who had 2000 bushels |of grain stacked fire spclcs hierh in « shed had the lot surrounded with water, which caused the sacke to burst. A well-known grazier between baitwater Creek and Ashley River had 100 head of cattle washed out to sea and a TVaifciiku settler lost 50 pi**. A Fhwton farmer Jβ the loser of 110 valuable stud sheep. Considerable damage lias been suffered in respect of potpto crops. In a paddock at Coldstream (00 sacks are submerged !to h depth of 2ft. and in an adjoining I paddock a larse number of sacks are ] not. visible at an. There are large quanI tities of potatoes not yet dug. and it i* ! considered thai these will be of no use iat all now. as they will rot. Owing to the municipal gasworks bein« flooded, therp was no gas available in the borough of Rangiora last night. Consequently, those whose premises ! were not connected with electricity had !to fall back on kerosene lamps and caudles. J At Woodend there are whole farms inundated still, and it -trill tak* some days for thi* weter to drain off. Foriornlnoklng group« of stock nan be «««n clinging to the highest point* of lan*. Loess* of itock hm-»t b«en £*