Caravanners struggle through floodwaters

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 1

Caravanners struggle through floodwaters

Two teen-age girls clad in pyjamas clambered along the railway line south of Kaikoura early yesterday to get help as waves washed round their caravan. ;;

A motel owner was awakened by their banging on a window at 1 a.m.

“She wasn’t going to let us in at first — she thought we were burglars,” said Karen Le Comber, aged 15.

The Oceanview Motel owner, Mrs Barbara Wells, said they crawled, stumbled, and slipped their way along the railway line back to the camping ground. It was impossible to use the road because the water was knee-high and it was covered in debris and kelp. Miss Le Comber’s family and another family who were camping together moved their caravans to a camping ground further inland before spending the night with Mrs Wells. “The waves came right underneath the caravan, pulling out the poles from the awning. Most of our clothes are out at sea,” said one of the caravan owners, Mr Ted Prior.

One of the cars was shifted about seven metres and suffered a bad dent, he said. “It was unbelievable; there were tree stumps on the road and bottles breaking under tyres.” Mr Prior said the waves would have averaged 10m high but some were 20m to 30m. “The noise was deafening — worse than a train,” he said. Four young people and

three adults spent the night in a motel unit and in Mrs Wells’s small room. “I have been here since 1952 and I have never seen a storm like it,” Mrs Wells said. “It was worse than the Wahine storm.” Although one child was suffering from shock no-one was injured. The two families are now at the Goose Bay camping ground.