DESOLATE SCENE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 42, 18 August 1939, Page 10

DESOLATE SCENE

FLOOD ON ALL SIDES

RIVERS RUNNING HIGH

RESCUE BY BOATS

(From "The Post's" Special Reporter.)

Indications of flood conditions could be seen all the way from Wellington. Just past Porirua paddocks showed signs of waterlogging, and what was normally a rivulet was scurrying through the fields carving new banks for itself. Between Porirua and Paremata a clay and rubble slip lay iv £ro;*t of south-bound traffic, blocking half the road. A stream between Fahautanui and Paekakariki, which caused trouble some years ago when it rose and ate into the side of the hill road, was very swollen. A few miles on the Wellington side of Paekakariid a lorry gang was at work clearing several fairly large slips. The scene' from the crest of the Paekakariki Hill was remarkable in its contrasts. To the south-west the purple peaks of the South Island, terminating in the shallow hump of D'Urville Island, stood sharply etched, capped with white knobbles of cloud, seemingly only a few miles away; but lo the north, over the Otaki and Foxton districts, massive storm clouds loosed a torrential downpour, cut by occasional shafts of sunlight. Water on the road and in the paddocks increased noticeably after leaving Paekakariki, to the discomfort of sheep generally and particularly to a dozen or so of first-bf-the-season lambs. Motor-cars lifted clouds of spray from the roadway, and here and there brimming watertables seeped in to the bitumen. The bush-clad valleys of the Tararua foothills were shrouded in a shifting maelstrom of rain-clouds, and che Tararuas themselves were masked by a wall of rain that was increasing the already swollen watercourses. The Waikanae Eiver, yellow and troubled, pounded against the pillars cf the main road bridge, snatching at bush and broken branches. The Otaki River, although running to the full capacity of its course, was not unusually'high for flood weather. Several slips had occurred between Otaki and Manakau. The Ohau River, like the ' Otaki, was high, but not troublesome. SHEEP MAROONED. Towards noon a wind rose suddenly and the clouds gave way to brilliant sunshine. The district immediately adjacent to Levin, though exceedingly moist, was in good order. It was in the outlying country that the more serious trouble was experienced. On the main road to Foxton water-tables and paddocks increased in flood and reached a climax where "le wooden bridge crosses the Manawatu and leads on to the new Whirokino Viaduct. With the flood waters supplemented by high tide at noon today, the appearance of the country was of a huge harbour pierced by the stark skeleton of telegraph posts and the tops of fences. A four-feet fence flanking the old main road on the left of the viaduct slipped sharply into the flood, and was lost about 50 yards along the road. A new four-foot fence subdividing the flats was completely submerged, and a mob of more than 100 sheep, which the farmers had been unable to move in time, were marooned on a stretch of higher land to which their instincts had led them. Water started to lap over the banks of the Manawatu, early yesterday afternoon, and the flat country filled rapidly; but the settlers were able to truck the pigs and move the cattle to safety. Fortunately, only a small number of sheep are carried on the land. On the right of the viaduct rises in the land formed small atolls, and a homestead lying back from the wooden bridge was cut off by water. In an effort to reach Shannon the "Evening Post" car, after passing through deep water five miles along, found the road impassable. On 200 yards of clear road about 150 sheep were grouped, blocked on both sides by water. The sheep might have been £ble to get back to safety; but many

of them were with lambs, bleating pitifully. RESCUED BY BOAT. Just as the car was making the return deep-water trip, another breach occurred in the river bank, and the 'discoloured flow surged through ,the gap, adding feet to the water in the field and on the road, and investing it with the strong current of the river. Another minute, and the car would have been completely cut off. Several of the homesteads between the Whirokino viaduct and Shannon were almost isolated, but in only a few instances did water actually enter the houses. At one house a black cat had been caught by the flood and appeared to have resigned itself to sitting on a window-sill for some hours. ! Mr. E. Pigott, one of the farmers, launched a boat in the river at the Moutoa, and made a trip of more than ten miles to rescue people flooded out at the Shannon bridge. In the Whirokino country 180 acres of one holding were inundated to a depth of 4 feet, but fortunately the land has not been used for some weeks for carrying stock. A drover was wondering if the land could be sold by the gallon. An idea of the terrific quantity of water that had swept across the country from the Manawatu River was 'gained from the high road between Levin and Shannon. Huge areas of excellent farming land wer-i hidden by sheets of water, extending to the horizon, broken only by windbreaks, islands, and hedgerows. The road between Shannon and Levin has been bearing heavy traffic this morning in transporting passengers detrained at Shannon. Inspection of the line where it is flooded has not been possible yet, . the train service being suspended more as a precautionary measure than through definite knowledge of damage. In the country near the flooded tracks several rescues were made by boat. Two Chinese, a European man and his wife, and another elderly man, were taken from their homes by boat. At the Poutu Maori meeting house three Maoris, two men and one woman, who refused to leave, are isolated. The weather has cleared considerably, and rain in the hills has ceased. The appearance of the country, however, suggests that it will be many days before the land is rid of the main flood waters.