Peninsula Heavily Hit

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31653, 13 April 1968, Page 1

Peninsula Heavily Hit

Little River families were taken from their homes on Wednesday and Thursday when the township was inundated by the worst flood in memory. Residents said that at the height of the deluge the township was more like a torrent.

Banks Peninsula was Isolated until early yesterday afternoon, when a wash-out on the main highway at the Kaituna Stream was repaired. The other routes through Pigeon Bay and Port Levy and Little River and Port Levy are blocked. On Wednesday night and Thursday, about 12 families were moved from their homes in low-lying parts of Little River. The flooding extended from the hotel to the Triangle tea-rooms, and was deepest in the middle of the township. "At 10 p.m. on Thursday, the water was over our front gate, a depth of about 4ft 6in,” said Mr H. W. Fawcett. “It was terrific. There was a general evacuation.” Shops Damaged Severe damage was done in Quigley’s general store, where water ran more than a foot deep. Mr D. B. Quigley and his family had to leave. Damage was also reported at Patterson’s store. The roof was blown off the shop of Mr E. Blamires, and yesterday the whole front had gone, the building being a virtual wreck. Mr R. J. Greasley, who lives on high ground at Cooptown, a mile from the township, said that the creek, normally Bft wide and 2ft deep, had swollen to 80ft wide and Bft deep on Wednesday evening. “Anxiety turned to alarm when we made a check at midnight on Wednesday,” he said. He told how he made his way to the home of Mr D. C. Routen down the valley “in total darkness, a howling gale and lashing, horizontal rain.” Mr Greasley found it was impossible to do anything to save Mr Routen’s 5000 broiler chickens. Mr and Mrs Routen and their sons, Mark, aged three, and Grant, aged a year and a half, and the two Routen cats, returned to Mr Greasley’s home. Chickens Dead In the morning, the 132 ft chicken house was half under water, and all but 50 of the chickens were dead. Water ran through the Routen home, and the family was startled when a tree crashed through the garage and the end of the house. Mr Routen said he had seen two cars swept off the highway into a paddock. A line was thrown from a lorry, and the occupants of the cars pulled themselves to safety, waist-deep in water. Mr C. Stanbury lost his woolshed roof, and the roof of the Anglican church was demolished. A mile of new tar-sealing disappeared on the Little River-Port Levy Road, which became a river, gouged out to a depth of up to a foot.

Bridges Go On the seme road. Vanstone’s bridge disappeared and another bridge higher up was reported to be smashed. The Okuti Valley bridge, at the valley road junction with the highway, was ehoked with debris, and its stability seemed precarious yesterday. The Little River garage was flooded to a depth of more than 3ft, and the owner, Mr L. S. Johns, and his family, moved from their home nearby. Mr J. Karetai's home in this vicinity was said to have had at least 2ft of water in it Other homes, though not deeply flooded, were invaded by mud and twigs, ruining floor coverings and wallpaper. "We carried out a full-scale evacuation on Thursday," said the Wairewa County Council’s Clerk (Mr W. F. Aydon). “The Fawcett and Quigley families were taken to the home of the county chairman (Mr W. S. L. Mcßae) and the others were taken to homes on high ground at Council 'Hill.'* Stock Losses Little River had been without power for more than 50 hours at mid-afternoon yesterday, and the single telephone line open was clogged with calls. More than 40 were waiting for connections when the exchange opened at 8 a.m. “I don’t know what stock losses have been in Little River, but they could be severe. We don’t know—there are no telephones.” Mr Aydon said that the council had established emergency headquarters at its offices, the old Little River railway station, where the flood lapped high on the foundations but did not get inside. “Our job has been mainly to try to clear roads blocked

by trees and to give access to properties,” he said. "Apart from the council trucks we received great help in the evacuation of families and in other emergency work.” Residents Praised He mentioned particularly the work done by Mr R. Reid, local manager for Habgoods, Ltd, and Mr L. R. Morison, another contractor. Mr Mcßae, who is Banks Peninsula civil defence coordinator, said be had not put the scheme into operation, but had relied on the co-operation of residents. This had been magnificent. “Everything is under control now,” said Mr Mcßae, reporting at noon that the flood was diminishing. “Everybody pitched in, and the local effort could not have been better.” Mr Mcßae said he had spoken to the Akaroa County Council's chairman (Mr G. P. A. de Latour), who had reported that the damage in the Akaroa County was not as bad as might have been expected. Many trees blocked roads, but there were not many slips. Akaroa Township The town of Akaroa eseaped with minor damage, but fishing and pleasure boats sank, dragged their moorings, or were wrecked. A keeler yacht arrived in the back yard of Mr T. Sunckell’s house in Rue Jolie. The trawler Kotuku dragged her moorings into Childrens Bay, but was saved from wreck by her owner, Mr J. Hedgecock, and Mr A. Reid, who got aboard and started the motor. Mr D. McCormick’s fishing boat Seagull was ashore at Children’s Bay. A trawler, the Southern Ocean, spent some time out on the harbour on Wednesday night because she could not return to the wharf. The Akaroa Boating Club’s slipway vanished, and the concrete wall on the seaward side of the Akaroa Bowling Club

was demolished. Damage was done to the sea wall, on Beach Road, and holes appeared m the footpath round the waterfront. Road Reopened The break in the Akaroa highway at Kaituna occurred about 7 p.m. on Thursday, and the road was reopened to oneway traffic by 2 p.m. yesterday. The damage was caused by a big macrocarpa tree which got into the Kaituna stream half a mile up from the highway bridge, and lodged against the south approach. The water cut in and made an Bft gap in the approach, leaving the tar-seal suspended for a time. A hydraulic bucket digger was used yesterday to break up the tree, and sections of it were pulled away by a wire rope to a truck winch backed up by a towing Ministry of Works grader. From Little River to Akaroa there were many minor slips on the highway, none big enough to block the road, i