THEFLOODS

Press, Volume XIX, Issue 2809, 3 May 1872, Page 3

THEFLOODS

; We condense the following.account of the flood's in the South of the province from the JSeruid:— - ' : The overflow of water from the Opihi showed unmistakably that the flood did not approach in severity anywhere near the "big" one of February, 1868- > The river broke out ' somewhere about the old place above Mr Parkerspn'e farm, and quickly found its way into Tfoung's and Gaffney's watercourses, wTiich on Sunday evening were in reality torrents, uncrossable even by horsemen. At about four o'clock that afternoon, the Opihi had extended itself south as far as the black, direction board placed a few yards j north of Glasson's accommodation house. From that hour till about seven o'clock the | riyer rose rapidly and,continuously. At the lajtte? hc-ur the whole of the plain, come two miles broad, lying between Mr Hornbrook'e house and the river appeared as one sheet of, water. The flood broke through the ■, fences of a farmer named Scot, but beyond ! damage to the fence we have not heard of any further destruction of property. The nejst morning the plain was free of water. J The farm house of Mr John Meyer, eitu- <! ated near to the south bank of the Opihi, was within an ace of being flooded. At seven o'clock on Sunday evening, the water was lapping, within an inch of the boards of the lo\yer floor, and articles of furniture were removed above for safety; but the water rose no further, and soon after that hour began to subside/. , ..' . '~... ■■■■'■

On Friday last, the Temuka, and Opihi rivers commenced rising,, and in the afternoon showed signs of fallings but therein continuing all night, by morning the streams assumed dangerous proportions, and was rising so rapidly that Mr Dale, a butcher from Temuka, who had crossed over to the south side to get some carcases for his shop, when returning met with an accident, briefly alluded to in our last. - Mr Dale was being piloted by Mr Leach, whom he was closely following, when about the middle of the stream Leach's horse lost his footing, and commenced swimming. It "was then too late for Dale to turn back, and hie horse shortly began swimming also, the stream then overset the cart, throwing out Mr Dale and his load. Leach in the meantime had got across, but seeing Dale swimming he immediately went to his rescue and managed to give Dale his . stirrup, by which means he dragged Him safely to land ; the horse being found next day drowned, the cart being broken. After this accident, the river continued steadily riging until about 4 p.m., by which time -it had. readied to within about cighf inches of ttie top . o£ tfao noxtU laa^lc; and then commenced to subside af?* 11 * i ous IM "Mil Continuing all night it again rose, and'% Half-past eleven was very nign. About this time, a young man named George Bradford, son of a farmer on the Waitobi flat, accompanied by Mr Clare, Telegrapn lineman, repaired to the river near the euspension bridge, with the intention of crossing, bnt upon their arrival at the xi-ver bank Clare pronounced tne river unsafe, and advised his companion not to attempt it, Bradford replied that he meant to try-it. as he was a good swimmer. He accordingly went into the river, but as soon as the horse was out of his depth it turned over with him, and the nnfortnnate man was seen no more alive. Mr Clare at once rode back to Temoka and reported the occurrence, when a number of horsemen and pedestrians at once went to the river banks to try, if possible, to recover the body ; tut, although they saw it drifting down the stream, and lodge on a spit close to to the road, they were unable to get hold of it, and it was again carried away by th» stream. At about half-past twelve, the suspension bridge, which was erected Borne thirteen months ago by the Geraldine Road Board across the Temuka, from Holloway's to. the Waitohi Flat, came to grief, the supporting piers in the river bed being carried away, the superstructure fell into the water and became a complete wreck, drifting across, and lying alongside the southern bank. By this time the river was spreading over the paddocks between the township and itself, and it became necessary for the qwners of several

waggons at the usual camping place near the river to shift them on to higher ground. By the time this was effe-' -i. the • tor was running within fifty yards of iVUerson's boarding house, and had i:.reded the store of Mr Mortiu's. Mr Gray's, Mr Coliins' brick house, their families having to be moved to safer quarters The water at six o'clock on Sunday evening was five inches in Mr Martin's store, but thanks to the ready assistance of his neighbors, his stock had ail been put out of its reach before it made its appearance in the building. The river still contiuued rising, but not so rapidly as before, owing to its .bavins spn-:u! itself over so large an area—all over tue fiat below the terrace, round by the back of the CourtHouse, Gray's foundry, and the Church of England—thus making the Temuka a river of about a mile in width. Mr James Mcßae and his family had to be removed from their residence; it was also necessary to remove? the horses from the public pound, which is situated in a most out of the way place in the river, bed, in a situation extremely dangerous for any unfortunate animal that might be incarcerate&iherein in time of flood.

The flood was at its highest at about six p.m. on" Sunday, and after that time, greatly to the relief of the inhabitants, the waters began to abate, and by Monday morning the river was within its banks, but still unfordable, and at half-past five that evening the rivers were only to be crossed by swimming on horseback; Mr Cramond, piloted by Mr A. Wadsworth crossing the mails in that manner at considerable personal risk. Yesterday morning the Temuka : and Opihi were both fordable, being crossed by several horsemen and by Mr Griffin's coach, the water at that time being about saddle flap deep, and lowering perceptibly. On the southern, side of the river we have not heard of any particular damage being done, except to tfiF Opihi bridge, or bridges, for, as our readers are aware, there areiwd of theni, bridging two streams of the river, the bridges being connected across the intervening spit by a raissd embankment. The bridge across the northern or main strejam 13" intact save that a large hole isscouretl tfut of the approaches on either side. We_-iegret-to-state,~however, thai the bridge over the southern stream is a. complete wreck, the piles which were too short in the first place have been completely undermined by the scour of the current, and have dropped into the holes carrying the .superstructure with them. The bridge was not washed away, but the damage is so thorough, as to be quite irreparable, nothing remaining but to build an altogether new bridge. The destruction of this bridge occurred about four o'clock on Sunday afternoon, the water at that time being close to the capsjie of, each- of the bridges. The pile work of tihe southern approach is still stand-tig, but aigood deal of the gravel filling is scoured out, and some of the outer planking is also carried away.

At Milford, on Sunday evening, about half a mile from Green Hays, the water frum the creek and swamp rose considerably, and but little time elapsed before the.water crossed the road in a rush, and overflowed the banks near: Mr Watt's residence, where the stream carried.away a lot of linen that was on the bushes round the house. Mr Watt's family had to. be removed. The water rose the creek forming what is called the Island so fast fiat several families removed from their residences over to Mr J. Smith's, who is on the north side of the creek and on rather • higher ground. The remainder of the Milford district did not suffer any inconvenience at all from the effects of the flood. It is greatly feared that the stacks of corn in the district will be considerably damaged, as there aievery ?ew : of.them, thatched. Steam machines were at work all day on Monday.

The Waihi generally with but a small stream of water down the middle of a wide shingle bed, was very high on Saturday, but was fofded by several persons ; the water though, was running in a sheet half a mile wide, across the Geraldine road, and in. ; the evening the ; road was impassable, but it went down during the night; it was 'rising again on Sunday at midday and at 3 p.m. the road was 4gain impassable, the water being nearly to ithe top of Mr Roberts' fence running along the Geraldine road,"and from there to Young's it was in one sheet, about three_qu,arteJCS.of-a_mile.wide.

Further information to hand tells us that the ford near to the Waihi Crossing has been washed away, together with some fencing along the Geraldine road. A dead horse was found on the Smithfield road, evidently having been washed there by the flood. We also learn that- at Mr Howard's fellmongery the 'whole of the loose plant was washed away with the exception of the boiler; some of the washing boses, &c.,,having been carried to the turn of the rodoYat about three-quarters of a mile south of ..the Waihi Crossing. We are also informed that Mr M'Kenzie, of the Raukapuka Saw Mills, lost a quantity of timber that waslying in : the river bed some three hundred yards above the mill,,,it being carried off Iby the flood. ■

The Orari is as bad as any of the rain, rivers in the Southern district daring afresh, , and it certainly kept >up its reputation last * week during tne unusually heavy rainfall. On Friday, the river was in heavy fresh, and early on Saturday morning the protective works were carried away. These works were erected about half-a-niile above Wadsworth's accommodation house, and stretched out one or two chains into the river bed. At three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, the river was bank to bank, and the overflow surrounded Wadsworth's accommodation house. At five p.m., a strong stream was running in front j of Wadsworth's, right across the road for several chains in width/and into the swamp lying eastward of the Main road. A considerable slice of the fiver bank being; parried away, a strong current was directed right agaiust Taylor's smithy, and the stream was diverted in order to save that building, but the outbuildings, the pigsties, Slc., afc Wadsworth's weie washed away.' On Monday a stream from. two.feet six inches to tbree,feet was runnicg in ifront of the door of the accommodation hduse, which now stands on the very Dribk of the rlverj and must shortly be removed, ils position being very precarious. Mr Wadsworth is afraid that the river, wh'ch seems bent on working south, will go right and left" of the house, leaving it on an island. - ' '

Although some farms were flooded lying on the south bank of the river, we have not heard of my serious damage being dona

On the r>o-th bank we hear that the overflow >om the liver, covered a large space of ground, aril that Mr Macdonald's house and outbuildings were .surrounded with water, the cause of this being that the water was backed up by the productive works. ■