FLOOD WATERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 44, 21 August 1939, Page 10

FLOOD WATERS

ROW-BOAT SERVICE

A DESOLATE SCENE

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

PALMERSTON N., This .Day. While the flood. jwaU-rs that covered JOOO acres of the Buckley district lasi \v£ek are now receding following the drop in the'level'■■of. the Manawatu River, it will be some days bel/jre ths area is actually clear. To facilitate the water getting away a gap was cut in the stop bank at the Whirokiuo end yesterday, where there was a difference of five feet in the level of the water inside and outside the bank. As far as. the railway is concerned, re pairs to the track were effected to enable trains to resume running yesterday morning. j The flood Water is still very deep in places, and canoes are being jsed to bring out cream from -sheo- which are situated on high ground. A boal is also being used to convey toed and mails to the isolated settlers. The situation in which the tanners find themselves is not without its humorous side. The settlers are making much fun out ol" the fact that Buckley has become a "port" agaia Back in the eighties there was a whaii there and goods came up and down the river. There was no railway then The present row-boat service is bein^ maintained for the carrying of passengers, food, and maiic. Millions of spiders are to be seen floating on top of the flood, having come from the tlax, and snails have] found temporary refuge on railway sleepers. Sambur deer are to be seen on the higher ground. It is difficult to estimate stock losses at present as the animals are stretched out along roads and stop banks, where they must remain till they can be taken off. Until that it done tallies cannot be taken. MEETING OF SETTLERS. A _ serious situation exists at Moutoa, where there ar.e a number of breaches in the protective stop banks, one of which is four chains long. So alarmed are the settlers that they held a meeting at the spot yesterday afternoon and decided that they would push repairs j ahead immediately. Within three days j it is expected that <he gap will be re- ' c.eiving attention. The water was re-! ceding yesterday, but the Oroua River is still high. When the flood was at its height out of the 10,000 acres in the Moutoa district only 1000 acres on thY fringe were free of water. The flood played havoc with Lhe banking system that has been, built up over many years by the farmers of tht locality. ' The banks have been carried away in places, and it will require <> ! great deal of work to. put them in ordei again. One break occurred above the Native settlement near the bridge, and a little lower dow-n, at Pigott's, the bank is caving in undis in a dangerous condition. At Opui Bend and two other places there are breaks. Near the Shannon' Bridge the bank was torn away for a dlstanre of about four chains, and where, the water tumbled through there is now a hole in the ground fully 15 feet deep. ; The' Foxton-Shannon Road is again open for traffic. Hundreds of motorists were over the route yesterday seeing the damage that had been caused by the flood. Most of the cattle are in dire distress on account of the silt and water that covers the pastures. Stock losses are confined to a minimum, as farmers took advantage of the warnings. : Water was running across the Shannon Road up till last evening, when the .flood level fell. ; With the.dairying season just begin-] rung the position is a serious one for the farmers in the affected areas, as cows are just com ml? in and they are difficult to feed. Many farmers art? running their stock on the roads, and in other cases feeding them with ha.v that is left. The centre of the Mout.uj swamp is ?till full and is likely to remain'so lor days, to come. On the outer edges some of the paddocks arc clear again, but.they are coated with silt: