Flood victims face wait to go home

Press, 17 June 1980, Page 1

Flood victims face wait to go home

PA Dunedin ■Waterlogged houses on the Taieri Plain may not be high and dry for perhaps another 12 days, and it could be four to six weeks before evacuated homes are habitable again, according to jcivil defence authorities in Mosgiel yesterday. . Farmland still inundated may not be clear for another 10 days,' according ■to the design engineer for the Otago Catchment Board, Mr A. M. Totrance. He said the 175-metre breachin the Waipori River bank was likely to be closed later this week, and- remaining floodwater would have to be pumped away:

Mr Torrance said there was now more evidence that the outlet to the Taieri River', and-lake system (a section of . the river from Titri to Henley) was controlling the recession rate. .Stock losses are proving higher than earlier assessments. Mr A'.. Diack, resident; livestock officer for the Ministry of Agriculture, said losses' totalled about 2000 sheep and 100 cattle. About 50 dead cattle, are caught, in willow-, trees along the river bank, and no-one is sure who owns them or who is responsible for their removal. But the civil defence officer, Mr K. H. Fraser, said yesterday they could not be left there while discussions took place over who paid for their removal. The Ministry of Agricul-

ture has been asked to sort the matter out. Mr H. R. W. Skinner, a Silverpeaks county councillor, said the physical damage to farms in East Taieri was severe and he had asked that consideration be given to extend the civil defence emergency to that region. Some farms would be out of production for months. The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) said in Wellington yesterday that it would cost an estimated $2.5 million to repair roads damaged during the Otago floods.

Damage to catchment works would cost another $2.1 million, he told a news conference.

The figures were contained in a flood report to the Cabinet yesterday.