Stock Marooned By Flood In Lower Mataura Valley

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28572, 29 April 1958, Page 14

Stock Marooned By Flood In Lower Mataura Valley

(Hew Zeaiana Press Association)

INVERCARGILL, April 2b. The whole of the lowe Mataura Valley from Gorge road to the sea is still a vast lake, between three and four miles wide in parts, this is the second time in six months that hoodwaters have reached these proportions and the ninth, tenth or eleventh time—“we have almost lost count” as one farmer put it—that large areas of pasture land near the river have been inundated in the last year. Hundreds of head of stock are marooned on small islands scattered about the broad expanse of muddy water, and fears are held for their safety as the river shows little sign of receding. So '“i farmers are taking fodder to the helpless beasts by launch but many others may die of starvation or trampling underfoot.

In many places, the water has reached a height several inches above the peak of the big November floods. The flooding is local witL no great quantity oi water in the Mataura river above Wyndham. High tides backed up by strong south-west winds are believed to have accentuated the flooding in the lower valley. Heavy rain, accompanied by icy hail squalls, fell throughout the day in the lower valley. The Southland Catchment Board’s chiei engineer (Mr R. D. Young) said today that many farmers in the area consistently ignored flood warnings. *

With water levels dropping throughout the remainder of tne province, several roads previously blocked are now open. More than 14 inches of snow has fallen on the Milford side oi the Homer tunnel and the hills surrounding x ’e Anau are covered with thick snow. Snow is lying on the ranges around Queenstown down to the 2000 ft level.