WAIKATO FLOOD SUBSIDING

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27091, 14 July 1953, Page 10

WAIKATO FLOOD SUBSIDING

Thousands Of Stock Need Fodder

ARMY’S AID TO FARMERS

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND. July 13. Danger of further flooding in the Waikato is past, unless heavy rains come again within the next few days. Creeping up another inch at Mercer, the water reached its peak about 10 a.m. today. At Huntly and Rangiriri the flood is very slowly subsiding. Pastures will not be clear for many days, and thousands of sheep and cattle are in dire need of fodder. The flood emergency committee in Hamilton has decided to set up a depot to receive and distribute hay. Using Matador trucks, the Army will continue to collect bobby calves from flooded farms and will carry out cream. Army vehicles will also carry hay to areas where other transport cannot go. Hay will be needed for at least 10 v. eeks. The emergency committee announced tonight that the response to appeals had been good, but it would not meet a sustained demand. The department o_" Agriculture estimates that several thousand head of stock require feeding.

Thirty farms were flooded at Rangiriri. and probably 20 at Te Kohanga. -There has not been much evidence of silting.

Weary railwaymen at Mercer who have fought to keep the Main Trunk line open had a well-earned sleep tonight. Many of them had been without sleep for 24 hours and had had only spasmodic rest for a week. The main Armv detachment from Papakura. which •spent Sunday night filling sandbags and manning the pumps, returned to camp this morning. Four soldiers remained to give further assistance. It is now possible to reach Mercer from Auckland by car, but road patrols are stopping anybody without a good excuse. South of the settlement the road will probably remain blocked for several days.

Bridges have not been damaged, and no major wash-outs have been reported on the Mercer-Huntly section of the Great South road. Engineers will examine the road surface and embankments before the road is- again declared safe for traffic. Before the flood the Ministry of Works had prepared plans to realign and raise several sections of the road where the water is now deepest. . Residents report that many roads on the Hauraki Plains are “cutting up badly” because of the greatly-increased traffic diverted through Pokeno, Paeroa. and Te Aroha from the Great South road. Work by Troops Two Matador trucks from Hopahopa Camo under the command of Captain M. R. J. Keeler did sterling work in the flood areas today at the request of the flood emergency committee at JHamiton. The two trucks acted as bobby-calf collectors, mail vans, and taxis, and finished the day by pulling out a carrier’s truck that was bogged. Sixty-six calves were picked up along the road, and farmers in the district saw their first visitors for a week. The water was 4ft deep in several places, and Captain Keeler and StaffSergeant W. Williamson waded ahead of the trucks to explore for holes. Telegraph poles floated in the water, and the work was dangerous. Stock losses in the Rangiriri district /'Tiave not been severe, but there is a grave shortage of feed. Mr C. Hill had to shoot three pedigree cows because of calving difficulties. He swam his herd of 100 dairy cows half a mile to his milking shed this afternoon. Another farmer. Mr H. Coop, lost his horse when it stepped into a hole and • could not be extricated from the gig ’ shafts. For the Glass family the Army is ; almost an old friend, as today’s was the third trip made to their farm. The - first was to take to hospital a woman who had given birth to a child. Yes- . terday the Army trucks brought them ’ fodder, and today they collected calves. . At one point the trucks were within ’ two and a half miles of Huntly, but < impassable water caused them to detour 20 miles through Rotowaro. Gifts to Poultry Farmers Mr and Mrs R. H* Montgomery, of Drury, whose poultry farm was all but destroyed during the height of the flood, can now start all over again. ; The Henderson Poultry Club has given them 500 six-weeks old pullets and the Papatoetoe club has offered to give the rest of the poultry to re-establish the farm. The Papatoetoe club will also have “working bees” to help on the • farm until Mr Montgomery can leave his hospital bed. The governing director of Amalgamated Theatres, Ltd. (Mr M. J. Moodabe) announced these extra dona- ; tions when he reported tonight that the amount collected for the family nt J a film benefit evening yesterday was • £537. Mrs Montgomery will also re- ’ ceive a fur coat—a gift from Mr A. G. , Denny, of the Great South road, which was handed to Mr Moodabe at the ; benefit evening.

FLOODING AT ONEHUNGA

; Subterranean Water Courses SEVERAL FACTORIES I DAMAGED , . (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 13. Subterranean water courses have pushed their way through the earth's | surface at Onehunga, flooding several : properties in Victoria street. Engin- > eers estimate that the flow is 14,000 , gallons an hour. Worst affected is a house and bedding manufacturing • factory at 17 Victoria street. Here . the water is a roaring stream, having burst through rocks and a 4in concrete floor. In adjacent low-lying properties the ; water is now 18in deep in parts. • Higher ground is merely a mass of bubbling springs. One house was evacuated at the week-end. The house and factory at 17 Victoria street is owned by Mr J. N. D. Fletcher. Some of his stock has been damaged, and other stock, including scarce kapok, is threatened. The damp kapok, he thinks, may ignite. The factory stock and cutting room underneath the house is flooded. Stock with £l5O has been lost. The water, crystal clear and sweet tasting, is flowing out of rocks in a minor waterfall. It is eating out earth around foundations. Working alone in water with a wheelbarrow, Mr Fletcher saved . some stock, including 10 bales of kapok each weighing 2201 b. Mrs Fletcher says her house is damp, and that at night the water flowing ‘ under the house “roars like a river.” J Old residents in the area say an underground river runs from One ' Tree Hill down Victoria street to the i Manukau harbour. Two engineers support that contention. In Princess street floodwaters in factories dropped or were drained away at the week-end. Although the level in the Eden Manufacturing Company's premises dropped by 4in. there was still 4in there today. Damage is difficult to assess, but today’s estimate of stock losses varied from £5OO to £lOOO.

FLOOD DAMAGE INSURANCE

SUGGESTED INCREASE IN FUND (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 13. The Minister in charge of Police _ (Mr W. H. Fortune) left Auckland for Wellington by ajr this morning impressed with the need for assisting property owners who have suffered

from the floods. He will discuss with the Cabinet -ways of increasing the Earthquake and War Damage Fund so that property damaged by severe floods may be covered. “When I saw what had taken place at Karaka Bay. on the eastern waterfront at Auckland, I was impressed with the need for more general assistance from the fund.” he said. “How to do it is a matter for discussion. One way would be to increase the earthquake charge by 6d. I was down in Canterbury the week-end before last, and although I had no particular amount in mind, I asked what the reaction would be to increasing the If to Is 6d. “TMrt might be some opposition to this, but those Canterbury people who had experience of . the previous floods thought the increase was reasonable.”