SCENES OF RUIN

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 188, 8 May 1934, Page 10

SCENES OF RUIN

Flood Havoc on Banks Peninsula TOWNSHIP’S PLIGHT Streams Still Pouring Down Hillsides By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch. May 7. By road. Little River and the whole of tiie Banks Peninsula district is still isolated. Two service ears reach ed Little River to-day. but soon after their arrival the level of Lake Forsyth rose again, and the road was again impassable. A train made slow progress to Little River from Christchurch to-day. No train will reach Little River station for some tim?, for a slip of ,at least 10Q0 yards of boulders, shingle and clay, covers the railway line for sixty yards near the station. The south-west storm continues with persistent rain, but the fall is not nearly so. heavy as the unprecedented storm which caused the floods on Saturday morning. However, the position of the township of Little River is still precarious. One of the factors which mitigated the severity of the flood was the low level of the lake, but now, owing to the heavy discharge of flood waters into the lake, it is higher than it has ever been tn living memory More severe rain would certainly create a position of extreme gravity. However, the residents are now of opinion that the township may escape such a major disaster. Generally, the damage in the little River, Ka’ituna, Wainui. and neighbouring districts is greater than was indicated bv the first reports. Numberless small bridges have been washed away, slips have blocked the roadways, fields and even gardens and houses were littered with vellow silt, shingle, boulders, and logs.

None of the people who vacated their houses at Little River on Saturday occupied them to-night, owing to the danger which would threaten with a further rise of the lake. In all accounts of the sudden onset of the flood.it is apparent that several residents had almost miraculous escapes. • Flood waters poured over the residence of the stud groom of the Kinloek Estate, and he and his family were rescued with great difficulty. Actually they were saved by boulders piling up against the house and on the roof, holding the house down against Cue pressure of the rushing waters The water was several feet high, and rising rapidly when the family was rescued at Kinloek homestead. A creek literally burst through the billiard room and flooded the whole house, which was sjieedily abandoned. Boulders heaped three and four feet high, burying the drives and gardens of two homesteads in the Okuti Valley. In Little River a slip which threatened to envelop, a house lost momentum suddenly as it reached some brick steps at the back door of Mr. C. Ferguson’s house, otherwise it. would have carried the house down the side of the hill. Swollen streams are still pouring down the hillside, and water still lies in the main street of Little River. The whole township is hi an indescribable condition of ruin. All kinds of flood litter are lying everywhere. Streams have changed their courses, bridges have gone, and three feet of water covers the main road. Slips are still coming down on the hillsides, and the whole countryside indeed is sadly scoured by slips large and small.