Floods? Those were the days ... when the east coast area was awash

Press, 17 June 1980, Page 19

Floods? Those were the days ... when the east coast area was awash

By

DERRICK ROONEY

The recent disastrous floods in the Taieri area of Otago have a historic precedent, for this is one part of New Zealand that has been notorious, since the first days of European occupation, for periodic inundation, invariably with disastrous consequences. Newspaper reports and television coverage of this month’s flood, showing washed-but roads, . vast areas of farmland turned into a lake and floodwaters covering Momona Airport, have presented the event as one of New Zealand’s worst natural-disasters. In terms ,of material loss and property damage it probably .is among the most costly.

But the worst flood? That is a difficult claim to establish, and there is strong historic evidence to suggest that- the recent Taieri disaster was simply a localised mishap when compared with the “Great Flood’’ of February, IS6S. There was nd television in 1868, and few cameras, so not a great deal of visual evidence of the effects has survived to the present day, but it: is apparent from contemporary accounts that there has never been another flood quite like the one of 1868. Virtually the whole of the eastern. South Island, from Marlborough to South Otago, was under water.

Many lives were lost; ships were wrecked; hundreds of acres of farmland v, ,e literally washed out to sea; whole flocks of sheep and herds of cattle were- drowned; buildings, roads, and bridges were destroyed. » - , ? Rain came. down ■ along the length of the east coast in a virtually unbroken sheet. In some places falls of.- 18in. were recorded,' and a ' contemporary account described the phenomenon-as “immense, more-like the continuous pour of a waterspout than the falling of rain.” .....

The source was a warm, wet airstream coming in from the southeast, off the Pacific Ocean — a sort of nor’wester in reverse. Water deluged down as the airstream began to lift against the foothills of the Southern Alps. It is a familiar pattern to farmers who live along the hills. “Sheets of water,” according to the “Weekly Press,” covered the plains for 300 if 400 miles.

At Hurunui, the huge woolshed of the Lakes Station was washed bodily out to sea, with all its contents. At Saltwater Creek,' the Ashley River changed its course, and a big area of productive farmland was converted instantly into riverbed. The Saltwater Creek bridge, the Ashley Bridge, and every small- bridge for miles around were wrecked or simply swept away without trace.

Virtually all the land between the Ashley and Waimakariri Rivers was under water. The Waimakariri changed its course at Kaiapoi and flooded part of the township. Another branch of the river broke its banks above the present site of Christchurch Airport; the waters entered the Avon, and “came down in a great flood through Christchurch.” The Selwyn River burst its banks about the Main South Road and carved a new course II miles across country to Lake Ellesmere. At Levels, two houses attached to a flourmill were swept away; one family was lost, the other survived by clinging to a piece of woodwork, on which they, were swept downstream.

At Temuka, • “not a single building escaped injury,” four people were drowned, thousands of sheep were lost. “The •water rolled from the north at least 10 miles in breadth,” reported the “Weekly Press,” “with a power and volume that

was resistless;- and above its roar the shrieks of women and children were distinctly audible.” Similar reports came in from all the centres down the coast. At each one there was loss of human life, huge losses of livestock, crops, and property.

At Kakanui water lapped 4in above the upper floor of the flourmill — some 20ft above the normal level of the creek. The miller and his familj' escaped by doing a “tightrope walk” along the tops of the wire fences, supporting themselves with poles. A few minutes after they escaped the fences were swept away. .

In Timaru Harbour, the steamer William Miskin was driven on to rocks, and wrecked; one man was drowned.

Canterbury’s losses, severe though they were, vjpre outstripped by those

of Otago, where ■ the rains were compressed into a much narrower strip between the foothills and the coast. Virtually no rain penetrated beyond the foothills, and the valleys of the big rivers were spared. The Leith, which must have looked much as it did when shown in full spate on television this month, flooded numerous Dunedin streets and buildings. A large area of the Dunedin Botanical Gardens was washed away, together with an almost-completed 62-yard breastwork designed to prevent such an occurrence.

Three other bridges were damaged or destroyed, and vast amounts of debris was washed into the bay; the “Otago Daily Times” estimated that in one night the river deposited, in banks of gravel and snags, as much debris

as the steam-dredge could remove in a week. The rains fell on the evening of Monday, February 3, and the morning of Tuesday, February 4; the Clyde correspondent of the “Weeklv Press” reported that, the heaviest falls were in the Kakanui, Dunstan, and Mount Pisa ranges. . North of Dunedin, all the valleys filled with water. The Cherry Farm area became an inland sea.

Bridges and telegraph poles were washed away; near Waikouaiti, a slip covered 80 yards of road ■with 10ft of debris. To the south and west, the Taieri and Tokomairiro plains were inundated. In Green Island, a stone bridge over Abbot’s Creek was swept away, the mill dam was destroyed, and a newlycompleted house floated off its piles and was dashed to pieces against the

stone bridge in the village. Mail from Dunedin was taken to Waihola by boat over nine miles of normally dry land; the keel floated clear above the fences. The Waitahuna flat was covered, and the town of Lawrence itself was partly under water. Round the “corner” .of the hills, the Taieri Plain, from a point about 11 miles by road from Dunedin, was covered by an almost unbroken sheet of water, in some places deep enough to overtop houses. The mail-coach driver told a journalist that the plain was just like a sea, right from that point to the head of Lake Waihola. and all along the line of the river people in boats were driving cattle to ground where the water was not of “drowning depth.” Around them, “hay, straw, and other produce, dead pigs, and living poultry were, floating in all directions.” A mounted constable who reached Dunedin through the Flood from West Taieri reported that there the water had risen above the roofs of farmhouses, and that nothing of the camp buildings was left except the roof of the courthouse. That was lying half a mile away, on the plain. It is difficult, even now, to. understand either the tragedy and horror that must have spread through the young colony in the wake of the flood, or the enormous losses, both of life, of property, and of incomes, that the settlers suffered. In the words submitted by that same West Taieri constable in his official report, “it is entirely beyond the comprehension of any person with whom the constable has spoken on the subject.” Central Otago escaped the 1868.f100d, but it had

had its own "Old Man Flood” five years earlier, when the Clutha River rose 20ft in a night, the Shotover River rose 35ft, and scores, perhaps hundreds, of miners were drowned; and a terrible blow was in store for the interior a decade later. The winter of 1878 was severe; abnormally heavy snow fell in the mountains, and drifts lay 100 ft deep in the gullies. In September, a nor’wester blew for several days, and as the thaw began the rivers rose rapidly. As the nor’wester died, rain began, and for 36 hours the ranges were deluged by continuous warm rain. By September 26 the Clutha was in full spate. Four days later another deluge fell on the ranges; and on October 10 rain fell again. These three heavy rains, coupled with the thawing of the snow into billions of gallons of floodwater, raised the big Central Otago rivers to the highest levels in history.

The vast torrent pouring down the Shotover stopped the outflow from Lake Wakatipu; the Shotover was sO high that its waters ran back into the lake. The Clutha rose 40ft at Cromwell. The Cromwell and Inchclutha bridges survived; those at Beaumont and Roxburgh were submerged and washed away. The famous Clyde suspension bridge was torn from its moorings; on September 29 it floated past Alexandra. Later, linked with what remained of the Roxburgh bridge, it was seen . passing Balclutha on the way to the Pacific Ocean. The floods continued for three weeks, and throughout that period the Clutha Valley was described as being “like a huge inland sea.”