MAKARA'S PLIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1941, Page 6

MAKARA'S PLIGHT

MiCk supply held up

ALL ROADS BLOCKED

From Makara, hemmed in on all sides, there was an urgent call today to have the district freed of its isolation. Big slips have completely blocked the roads, and one result was that the milk supplies from that district were unable to be delivered this morning. In surveying the scene at Makara today there were evidences everywhere of the district having suffered severely from an experience worse than any of the kind on record. The whole countryside was punctured with slips and wash-outs, and pastures in the valleys were lost under a thick coating of silt, mud, and rubble, with the stream still ugly after the devastat-j ing rushes of the greatly swollen waters and still remaining impassable. In addition to the big slips on the main road in Makara, a big culvert was washed out on the South Makara road, causing a blockage there, and any possibility of using the Ohariu Valley route was removed by the Ohariu Gorge being badly blocked. HOUSES AFFECTED. One big slip near the beach endangered Mr. Diedrich's house, and the glush was actually forced through from the back to the front of the premises. The houses of Mr. T. Hawkins and Mr. Harry Cook in Makara were invaded by water, to a depth of up to 15 inches in Mr. Hawkins's home. When the flood waters, which reached the unprecedented height of 12ft in the valley, had receded somewhat the floors of the houses presented a sorry picture. Outbuildings, including fowlhouses, as well as fences, in the Makara area were washed away, and much grain, etc., was lost. Residents were taking account of losses and damage as far as it was possible for them to do so this morning, but were still unable to determine the extent.to which live stock had been affected, though much of this had been removed in time to higher ground. RESCUE OF CHILDREN. One of the principal concerns of residents yesterday afternoon was for the children at the Makara School. According to Mr. C. Nielsen it was a terrific struggle to get the children back to their homes from the school. The road in parts was completely covered to a considerable depth by flood waters and slips, and the resciue work meant travel on foot over some of the hilly country and over slips. A car, caught between slips, was made use of in covering part of the hazardous journey. The whole experience was a trying one, and that applies also to those who have been battling their way over and round the numerous obstructions on the road in going to and from the district, to which vehicular traffic has no entry or exit.