A VIVID ACCOUNT

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 110, 10 May 1923, Page 8

A VIVID ACCOUNT

DESCRIPTION BY AN EYE WITNESS,.

A passenger who came through by car from Blenheim this week gave a vivid account of the flood to a "Nelson Mail" reporter. "At about 7.30 on Monday morning," ha said, "we were awakened by the noise of firebells, and factory whistles. At that time water was just starting to trickle into the town. At about noon, the banks burst, and the water came in with a rush, completely flooding the business portion. There was soon 6 feet of water in the Royal Hotel. Families were coming into town from the flooded country areas, and it was difficult to accommodate them. "Added to this, provisions were hard to obtain, and everybody was on short rations. Furniture and debris of all descriptions was floating in the streets, where boats were being used to rescue those in the worst areas. At about 10 o'clock at night the flood was at its highest. . "An idea of the miserable conditions prevailing may be obtained from the following story. At about 10 o'clock, people in the Empire Hotel heard cries coming from somewhere at the back of the. building, where there were three cottages. Although the water must have been over four feet deep, an employee at the hotel ventured forth with a lantern, and, in one of the cottages, discovered an pld woman, who was sitting up in bed with the water reaching up to her arms, holding a candle above her head. She had been shouting for help, and was almost exhausted when the rescuer arrived. The return to the hotel was accomplished with great difficulty, at one stage the man being obliged to swim with his helpless burden. In one of the cottages a man and a woman with their little baby were imprisoned by waters for some time, and were rescued with great difficulty and danger. "The state of the town on Tuesday morning passed description. There was a layer of silt and debris all over everyI thing. In some places the asphalt of the roads had been torn up, in one place, in front of the Empire Hotel, a hole 30ft long and about 6ft deep having been ripped out by the:waters."