DESTRUCTIVE FLOOD

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 14, 9 May 1933, Page 8

DESTRUCTIVE FLOOD

EAST OF STRATFORD

ROADS OBLITERATED

TAURAKAWA FARMS ISOLATED

It is difficult to visualisa without an inspection the real state of affairs in the back country of Stratford at pro,sent, scarred and swept as it has been by streams swollen to the magnitude of rivers, and rendered dangerous by the treacherous nature of the ground following upon days of continual rain (states the "Taranaki Daily News"). Several roads are blocked by. slips, lowlying areas are covered by flood waters, or if these have subsided, by several feet of silt and. a covering of timber brought down from the ranges. Settlers in these areas are isolated, as it is impossible even to get a pack-horse over what in many cases was once a good metal road. On Saturday a party comprising Messrs. W. J. Poison, M.P., T. B. Anderson (chairman of the Stratford County Council), J. W. Spence (county .engineer), C. Campbell (county clerk), .T. E. Anderson (Public Works Department), and L. Bunn, a member of the County Council, paid a visit to the Puniwhakau district to inspect the r : oad from where it joins the main route to as far as Taurakawa. The party was c-.on.yeyed by car from Stratford as far as Mr. Bunn's residence, where they received hospitality prior to the six miles tramp to Taurakawa. The road from Mr. Bunnjs house for about, two miles was still in satisfactory order, but frpm there the Puniwhakau Stream, which, runs alongside the road, had wrought havoc. i Most of the damage was- done^ on Wednesday night, and before daylight on Thursday the rise; in the stream was estimated to be well over 30 feet. In some places the marka left by the water could be . seen nearer 40 feet above the normal level of the Puniwhakau. The road in many places was completely obliterated, or covered to a depth of -several feet with silt, while logs were scattered about as if they had been playthings in the hands of a giant. ' : ... As further progress was mad© the damage became more general, and where the road was too' high for the river to touch it slips from above became the order, while all about the hills wero scarred by falls of earth. At one point in the river the party inspected a jam of logs two or three chains long, over which a man had driven a flock of 80 sheep. This blockage was wedged between the two banks with sufficient space for the streav, though stiTi high, to pass underneath. The seriousness of the situation was fully realised by the time Taurakawa was reached. Every settler is,isolated, and will be until some improvement is made. In many cases the destruction of private bridges has come aa a severe blow, necessitating long round-about .journeys before any communication can be established. Men are at work clearing a bridle track through the debris, but it will be some time before sufficient clearing can be done for a horse to traverse the ground. At present anything in the way of provisions has to.be carried in by the settlers, themselves, and the immediate need for work on the road is only too apparent. ■