Thick lake of 'brown soup’ engulfs coastal Otago

Press, 7 June 1980, Page 3

Thick lake of 'brown soup’ engulfs coastal Otago

PA Dunedin Coastal Otago looked like an enormous lake of thick brown soup from the air yesterday. Dotted among the often swirling mass were small pieces of high land which appeared destined to be engulfed by water. The roofs of buildings stuck out above the constant brown, and scores of sheep carcases could be seen floating. A publican Mrs Vera Parsons, and 14 others, including five children, who had been living on the top floor of her flooded Henley Hotel for two days, were moved to safety by jet boats last evening in driving rain. The group had cooked meals from a gas burner during their two days sojourn in the marooned hotel. Fresh water was available after a waist-deep wade through the flooded ground floor, Mrs Parsons said last evening, and temporary toilet facilities had been set up. “I didn’t want to leave,” said a rather distraught Mrs Parsons. “But there was no way I wanted to put anyone’s life in danger. The hotel is my life, and I just wanted to stick with the ship.” Mrs Parsons has been the publican for nine years. All those rescued were taken to friends and relatives. Throughout coastal Otago yesterday bands of farmers helped weary livestock to higher ground, and what dry ground that was available was generally used by huddling, frightened animals which , had so far survived the flood. At Karitane, where most of the town’s fishing fleet was lost on Thursday, the Waikouaiti River has overflowed so much that from the air it looked as if it had never been there. Near Berwick, the Waipori River, which had broken its stopbanks, was sending a dirty, yellow stain covered by off-white foaming watery into previously protected land. The breach in the stopbank grew rapidly. A reporter who flew over the area twice within an hour said that the size of

the break was “staggering’* the second time. The breach in the stopbank had grown about 500 metres wider in that short time. The flood-free highway near Henley was a strange sight — hundreds of cows had been taken there for protection from the floodwaters, and the highway resembled a huge cattie yard. Dozens of vehicles of all descriptions waited on the highway in both directions for the chance to move on. Two mercy dashes were made to Dunedin from the flooded area yesterday — one by an R.N.Z.A.F. helicopter, the other by road ambulance. The helicopter was called to Alexandra to lift Mrs Joan Checketts to hospital in Dunedin after she developed complications in labour, while an elderly Cromwell woman suffering from a broken leg travelled by road. The head of the police at Alexandra, Senior-Sergeant K. J. Morrow, said it was originally considered sending both women out in the helicopter. However, doctors considered the maternity patient should be dealt with as quickly as possible, he said. The helicopter, with a gynaecologist on board, landed at Alexandra Airport about 9 30 a.m. and left for Dunedin within a quarter of an hour, carrying Mrs Checketts and her husband. When it arrived in Dunedin about 10.50 a.m. Mrs Checketts was taken to Queen Mary Maternity Hospital where she gave birth to a daughter — her first child — at 5.40 p.m, Both mother and daughter were reported in good condition last evening. While Mrs Checketts was heading towards Dunedin by air, the woman from Cromwell was making her way down the Clutha Gorge by ambulance. At Milton, she was transferred to an Iroquois helicopter for the rest of the journey to Dunedin. She was met by ambulance at the University Oval about 3.30 p.m. , x . Another patient for the Dunedin Hospital from Milton was also on this flight