DELUGE IN POVERTY BAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 155, 4 July 1927, Page 10

DELUGE IN POVERTY BAY.

| SETTLER'S HOME SHIFTED. ! , j FURNITURE FLOATS AWAY. • (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) GISBORNE, this lay. i Low-lying land in and about Gisborne j was covered with water for a few hours j in the week-end, but no serious damage was done. When the rain ceased vesy Jterday the river fell rapidly. Ie The country districts did not cscapc s " >o lightly. i oj The little township of Waimata, v.fifteen miles from Gisborne, had an ex"jciting experience in the early hours of j Saturday morning, when the Waimata I ,l| River rose rapidly to a height of 33 fvet! S.I above its normal level. i "j Highest Flood on Record. r The flood is said by old settlers to I e be the highest ever experienced in that! [. district. j d Two small bridges known as Ken-| n| way's and Savage's, were badly damag-j o|Cd. Losses of stock are reported. Mr. j c .1. Graham, the heaviest individual loser,' k lost 40 sheep aud a number of pigs. I c| A drover, Mr. John Robb, who lived) with his family in a fivc-roomcd house, | JI decided, as the rain continued, to makcj i;preparations for departure. Soon after) ;jhis family left it, the house floated off rjits piles and turned round, but fortunJ atcly it was stopped by a big tree. e The rushing water made a breach in the walls of the house, aud pieces of furnij ture floated away down the stream. The occupants of a small whare on 2 tbe bank of the river escaped in time early yesterday morning, and not long p after they had left the water was washing the edge of the .roof of the building. 3| ° c ! Damage Elsewhere. Residents of the upper end of Mangaspent an unpleasant aud rather •anxious night, having to rise early in the to move their horses, cows, -jtlogs or poultry to safetv. Onuond t Road was completely covered and the; (bridge near the Old People's Home was 1 i badly damaged, the approaches ■ washed away and the foundations of the! J piles loosened. The bridge was unsafe) I tor tratlic yesterday, and is now under. ® repair. j . _ Tlio Tolaga Bay district experienced! its heaviest flood since 1917 and the 1 t main coast road is blocked bv a large jjslip in Loisel's Gorge, a few miles south of Tolaga Bay. So much debris came , down on to the road that it is difficult ' , even to walk round it. The Pakarae ; ! Stream came up over the road near Sevt mour's and submerged the bridge aud r the road by Seymour's woolshed to a ' depth of 18in. As the tide receded the ' . water dropped, and the road at the point ;> is now clear.