PAINFUL SCENES.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19665, 8 July 1929, Page 8

PAINFUL SCENES.

SEDDONVILLE FLOOD. ONE FAMILY COMES TO CITY. Only one family of Seddonville refugees reached Christchurch by Saturday's train from the Coast. Twenty more, who intended to come, failed w> connect with the express at (ireymouth. Mrs F. A. Sehuls, wile of a SeddonviJJe railwayman, aud her six children four boys and two little giriS formed the partv. Mrs Sciiuiz looked tired and *»» as she stepped on to the platlorm, apparently Having had little P*a<* ot irnnd since the disa*t<r of ThursdayThe bovs still smiled—the trip vu evidently to them something of an advcnfortunately they were too voting to realise tully the danger they Lad come through. Zn&cr }h» guidance of the Mnvor (Mr J- R. Archer) the Town Clerk *< Mr J. 5- Neville), and Cr. A. Fraer, the familv wa -s soon m the railway refreshment room enjoying a cup of tea wtih scone* and biscuits. As the bovs ate they were eager to talk. 'There was water all round our house, like this." said the eldest lad. aged about 12, who was acting spokesman for the family, as he put out his arms to demonstrate how the wa«r had enveloped their home. His smaller brothers, their brown eyes shining with excitement, chimed in now and again, and together they told how. before Thursday, Seddonville was a township nestling m a basin in a bend of the Mokihinui river. Its population was about 400. most ot whom were farmers or coalminers —or both. D iring the big earthquake a portion of Mt. Giasgow. which towers above the towns)"- teJi into th© Mokihinui river and dammed it. Little water had flown to the sea since then, but the residents had not been unduly apprehensive about it. On Thursday afternoon, shortly after two o'clock, the river began to rise. Master Schulz told how the children were in school at the time, doing "rams" and that the teacher had refused to let them go till these were finished. "The worst came at 6ve o'clock." said one of the lads, "and thev say it's lucky for lis it did not for- c- at night time. We, made for the hi--}> country, having no time to collect anything. *' "A'l our pigs were drowned," said the elder lad.

"No. on© of them was saved," corrects his younger brother. Ther had no poultry hut the morning following the flood drowned fowl* were to be sepn littering their washhouse and backyard. Rats scuttled from their holes to seelc refuge from the onrnshing waters. but many were drowned. Eels from the river now lie scattered in the eilt. the iood waters having receded and left them to die. As the Sohnlz family stood on the hillside overlooking the township, they watched the waters rise around their home. SUt marks thow that they reached the top of the door. Few of the houses escaped Some of the smaller buildings were toppled over into tije swirl of the waters and must have poo* out ot sea; the larger ones, including the hall, were shifted bodilv. One man had a garage on the side of a hill with a car in it but both were carried down some distance. The flood was made the more danSerous by the big volume of water breaking through all at once. Stock were swept down by the impetuous torrent and many of them must have been washed ryrht to the sea, three miles distant. Cattle could be seen, their heads bobbing up now and attain above the flood waters, as ther tried vainlv to make the shore. Not all were drowned but certain farmers lost heavily. The family left Soddonville on Fridav morning. All the clothes thev had were what they stood in. but they were soon fitted out and comfortably installed in the people's Palace. The Earthquake. One of the lads gave his impression of the big earthquake. The noise proceeding it, be said, was like the muffled rumbling of a tramcsr. The shake was terrific and the shocks foJ lowing were pearly as bad. Mr Russell, who was buried in the slip which fell into the Mokihinui, was a neighbour of the Schuls family. He had been the victim of circumstances. Together with a mate he had decided to go out earlier in the week preceding the earthquake prospecting for gold. But he was delaved and the two left on the SundayRussell's footsteps had been traced as far as the slip, but they went no further. More Seddonville refugees will reach Christchurch by to-morrow evening's train. Mr and Mrs Johnston, of Karamea, «lv> came to Christc-huTch on Ratarday. They sre going to stay with friends at Akaroa.