OUTLET TO SEA

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 109, 10 May 1934, Page 12

OUTLET TO SEA

FLOOD WATER RELEASED

REPAIRS AT LITTLE RIVER

(By Telegraph.—Press Association)

'-.; CHRISTCHURCH, May 9. Although heavy rain is still falling and the southerly storm continues with a violence, scarcely abated, the plight of the unhappy people of Little River is better today-that it has been since Saturday' morning, when the flood waters rose to a dangerous height. Attempts to open an outlet' from Lake Forsyth to the sea succeeded last night after ■ much arduous toil without' risk. Ordinarily it is considered hopeless to endeavour- to open an outlet in a southerly storm, because the seas close it almost immediately,- but on this occasion the heavy pressure of water at an unprecedented level in the lake created a scour sufficient to overwlielm the force of the waves. An opening of a few yards only was cut in the shingle spit, but this quickly widened to 70 yards, and the water rushed out through, a wide and deep channel. \ ' : . ','■■. . • . - Efforts are now tbeing concentrated on repairing the Little River . water supply. Many houses are -without water .because the pipes have: been carried away or smashed. The train service is now normal, and trains are-, carrying water in tanks, thus providing some relief. Rain water is also being saved in all available receptacles. ; Service cars got through today, but with the running-boards awash in places where the road is still covered by water. : -.'..■.'.■ SURVEY OF DAMAGE. It is impossible to give any reliable estimate as to the amount of damage. Bridges have gone, roads have been washed away or blocked by slips, farm lands . have been scoured : away or covered with a deposit of clay, shingle, boulders, dead timber, and other flood debris, fences have been destroyed or damaged, and houses are in an indescribable condition. It is also' impossible to count the losses of stock. Much roadway has entirely disappeared. A waterfall which crashed down on to the Toad, scouring a deep hole, emerged from a settler's cowshed above the. highway. Communication has been restored with some valleys which had been isolated, but with others no normal communication will be " possible for weeks. Ono of those isolated by slips is Commander Hall, of Peraki. He cannot reach Little River even with horses. His homestead, one of the best on the peninsula, narrowly escaped being washed away. Commander Hall spent some time today removing eels from the rooms in' his house. The ground over which the flood passed is littered, with eels.

Slips on the peninsula ace numberless, and the whole district will bo permanently scarred.

The rain, after a cessation yesterday, began again last night, and fell steadily again all today in Christchurch. Since the commencement of the storm. 6.55 in has fallen, an unprecedented rainfall for the Canterbury Plains. On the peninsula the amount has been very much greater.