ABATTOIRS SUFFER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 22, 26 January 1940, Page 8

ABATTOIRS SUFFER

FLOOD'S RECORD RISE

WORKERS SAVE LIVESTOCK

Workers at the Municipal Abattoirs, 'iNgahauranga; had a hectic half-hour this morning saving stock from the rising.flood-waters, which invaded the pens and covered the entire yard to a depth varying between three and six feet. Damage was kept down to a minimum, but today the abattoirs were " virtually out of action. The heavy rain overnight caused little alarm, and few evidences of flooding were to be observed earlier in the morning, but at about 7.30 a.m. the stream running through and under the abattoirs was showing signs of getting out of control. Fifteen minutes later workers were striving their utmost to save the sheep in the pens behind the.,main buildings. Some of-the sheep and pigs were carried out:bodily. Others were driven to higher rground. Calves and fullgrown cattle were next, and in very short time all were out of danger from the. flood. They will also receive- a temporary respite from the butcher's knife, while the debris is being cleared up. Several motor-vehicles in the yard were got out just in time to avoid a period of forced retirement in four feet of water. SWIFT-MOVING WATERS. Racing in through the. t back doors and windows, the flood-waters,covered the floor of the main building to a depth of about a foot. At the landing stages the depth was easily four. feet. Water-marks, well etched in coal-dust, indicated, to later arrivals the levels the flood reached in all. parts of the works. ' ■ The boiler-room was well filled, the water rising over the top of the boilers. A large pile of coal outside was distributed throughout the yard and in various offices. In addition to this, quantities of silt lie all over, the yards to a depth of three or four inches, and cover the concrete floors of the main building to a depth of over an inch. At 8 a.m. the flood-waters had covered the yard and the floors, and had risen to a point only 14 yards from . the main gate. The only part of the grounds above water was a few yards of drive-way. The flood is described as being comparable only to one which ■ occurred about 20 years ago. It fell almost as rapidly as it had • risen, and by 9.30 a.m. the deepest pool ! in the yard was under a foot deep. Workers were hard at it with spades , and hoses cleaning up the mess of coalIdust and silt. An inspection revealed 'jfchat the meat was in no case touched by the water, which did little in this ' section of the building except to shift a few floor-gratings. • DEPTH OF FIVE FEET. The lowest building in the works, a Nbrick structure, was invaded to a depth frof about five feet, and the receding fcwater left a litter of furniture and Ppapers behind it. The main block of If offices escaped, though some in the big -building,) including those of the inspector and contractor, received some damage to furnishings. A lean-to shed was ■undermined, as were several minor corrugated-iron walls. A house on .the eastern side of the (plant had a narrow escape when water in the usually tiny stream rose fully twelve feet. A wide area of bank was swept away, and the garden was washed out. Water ran high against the side of the house, and under it, but none ipenetrated. A puppy, was rescued from a dangerous predicament on an island amid the flood-waters.