FLOOD DAMAGE INSPECTED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22335, 24 February 1938, Page 10

FLOOD DAMAGE INSPECTED

TRAGEDY ATTRIBUTED TO CLOUDBURST MR SEMPLE AT BOYD’S CAMP WORK ON RAILWAY SET BACK THREE MONTHS U>B*SB iSSOCIATIdIi J GISBORNE, February 23. The Minister for Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple), with Mr Wood, engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department, inspected the site of Boyd’s railway works camp to-day ; which was obliterated by a flood at the same time as the Kopuawhara tragedy. Boyd’s camp is near the Gisborne end of the line, whereas Kopuawhara is only a few miles from the southern end. At Boyd’s camp, seven married couples, with 16 children and several single men, escaped in their night attire aS the flbhd descended in the Maraetaha stream, one life being lost, that of a married man ridmed William Robitison, whose body has not yet been recovered. Two bridges were also washed away. Standing on the bank of the, Maraetaha river, beside the site of a concrete bridge Which had been washed away, Mr Semple said, that what he had seen confirmed the conclusion he had reached previously from a sttidy of the reports made to him in Wellington—that a cloudburst had been the cause of the terrific amount of dairikge and the appalling loss of life. Nothing like it had happened in the history of living man in New Zealand, or perhaps for centuries before that. “Evidence on both sides of the hills ptoved that here dose by we have’ hew evidence Of old fortifications used by the Maoris in defenddgaitist Te Kdoti 68'yeafs ago,” said the Minister. “These fortifications have never been silted up until this flood—clear evidence thai this has been a phenomenal flood. Bridges Washed Away "This bridge, which has beeh washed away, had threfe steel and concrete spans, each weighing about 50 tons. They were carried four chains down the river. They were not left on the riverbed but thrown up on thfe bank. That will give some idea of the force of the water. The other bridge, which Was built of timber and .which Was washed away, had been up for 25 years. The previous bridge on this site had been on exactly the same level and in the same position for about 40 years. "What happened here also occurred on the other side of the hills, and it was the same eldUdburst,” said Mr Semple. “The lUcfcy thing is that the people here were not subject to the same experience as those at Kopuawhara, where a part of the liver was blocked before the water could find a discharge; The indications at Kopuawhara were that the water just above the camp reached a level approximately 12ft higher than the. camp Site. At Boyd's camp, oti the Gisborne, side bf the hills, the pebple wbre able to get aWay dh td high gtotirid, whereas No. 4 cafrtp at Kopuawhafa was ihuhdated and the occupants were trapped as the, stream edme doWn like a tidal wave;”

Referring to .the preliminary estimate of £50,000. applied to the damage done to railway qonstruction Works in the Waikpkopu-Gisborne area. Mr Serricild said that construction work on the' lirle Wdtild be set back at least three rridnths. and probably frioi-e than that. While the men were being taken from the railway work to edriberitratd their efforts ort the reparation df the flood damage.

flferoisrii of Workers T am'pleased I have made this visit of inspection," ridddd the Minister. “I have now seen for myself what has happened. It has been one of the saddest experiences of my life. The boys \yho hgve gone wete representative of. NeW Zealand’s, best, and they have left their mark ih the heroism displayed in their last moments, as well as in the work they accomplished. My investigation convinced me beyond dbiibt that nd blariie attached to anybody. As I have stated previously, it was an ridt df Grid." The Minister further refert-dd td the heroic efforts made by, many of those whb Had perished in the Kopuawhara flood iri trying to save the lives of others, rind ddep sympathy for the relatives of the victims arid encouragement to those WhO Were left to go ,ori with the job., “I have nothing but 'the highest praise for the engineering staff’s work, the energies of the police, and the readiness with Which .tradespeople came tb the rescue With food supplies, sometimes at considerable risk, for they W trri,Verse desolate hilltops,” said Mr Semple. “To all these I express the sincere sentiments of gratitude of the Government.” Referring again, to the phenomehril nature of the flOdd, he said he had been told that the bldest Maoris living at the Gisborne end of the works ma'in- • that nothing had ever happened in Maori history to compare with the magnitude of thd recent floods.