FLOODS AROUND GISBORNE.

Evening Star, Issue 12868, 18 July 1906, Page 8

FLOODS AROUND GISBORNE.

phenomenal rains. isolatfjJkettlers. ', [Special to the Stab.] GISBORNE, July 18. ■ The long spell of dry, unseasonable winter weather has culminated in one of / the heaviest floods that has ever been / known in the history of this district. The rain, welcome to town people, whose tanks were running dry, and to many country settlers, who felt that the land required a good soaking to givo strength to the vegetation in the coming summer months, commenced on Saturday morning with light showers. Since then rain has fallen almost incessantly, over ten inches being registered up till nine o'clock yesterday morning. On Monday the Waipaoa River was reported to be running bank to bank, and the prediction was safely offered that unless the rain ceased there would be a heavy flood. Settlers, anticipating that this would take place, made provision in many cases for the removal of stock to j safety, but few expected the waters to. rise as high as they have done. Monday night was one of the wildest we have had in Gisborne for many a long day. A heavy easterly gale raged, and rain fell in tor- . rents at intervals during the night, but ! eased off after three o'clock, after which the sjiowers wero much lighter, though the gale" continued to blow with severity. Daylight broke with —A Seen© of Desolation—over the Poverty Bay flats such as has not been seen for many, many years. The first reports that reached Gisborne were of ' an alarming nature. As soon as the Telephone Office opened at seven o'clock there were appeals from Makaraka to toe police : and the Mayor of Gisborne for boats to be Bent to rescue the settlers. The whole country from Makaraka towards Ormond in the one direction and towards Tearai in j the other was said to be under water. | Stock were drowning in every direction, and the people were really in peril of their lives. The mayor and Sergeant Williams took immediate steps to render assistance. Meantime reports continued to come in ' showing a very serious state of affairs. .Bushmere was isolated, and the water was said to be streaming like a mill race through the district into the Taruheru River, which stream bad suddenly assumed the dimensions of a big river, and was running through Gisborne with a mighty rush* bringing down drift wood, casks of tallow filched from Messrs Nelson Bros.' wharf at Taruheru, and some dead stock. Mr Julius Osesar reported ten feet of water in his paddocks at OTmond. Looking from Mr Csesar's, the whole country in the direction of Waiherehere and Waimarie appeared awash, the water being over the tops of the fenefs, which in many places were being washed away. From Waerengahika it was reported that the water was running through the hotel, and a similar state of affairs was recorded from the Royal Oak Hotel, Matawhero. One report received at the Telephone Exchange, but happily unconfirmed, was that two people had been drowned at Makauri. On receipt of the call for help, the mayor lost no time in getting boats away. Seven were despatched by the harbor-master and others from the rowing shed as fresh appeals for help were received during tue forenoon. At 8.30 news came that Nelson Bros.' stock bridge at Taruheru had been swept away, md was coming down the Taruheru River ii> a great speed, with the sand pump iredge attached to it. Fears at once arose [or the safety of the town bridges, and steps were taken to protect them. At 9.30 the derelict bridge struck the Carnarvon street footbridge, and carried about a quarter of it away. It was then secured, and prevented from doing further damage. , —Train Traffic Interrupted.— I The train left town as usual at the timetable hour yesterday morning, but was unable to proceed further than Makaraka, the bridge a short distance beyond the Station having been swept away. The ■Bturning train reported that the flood ••aters were rushing through Makaraka Into the Taruheru River in great volume. ; With the train there came to town Mr ; Vallance, one of the railway gangers, whose j duty it is to patrol this line every morn- i ing before the train passes over it. He I reports having had a very severe experi- j ence. • He left Waiherehere at 5.15 a.m., i as usual, on a jigger, and found the line ; between Waihereke and King's road eta- I ■" tion submerged, the flood waters running i with considerable force. He had reached j * as far as M'Gregor's bend, when the jigger be was travelling on completely disappeared from sight, thus clearly indicating that the line had been washed away at this point. Mr Vallance experienced no difficulty in recovering himself, and waded through the flood waters to tlte permanent way, travelling thence by foot to Makaraka, which he reached at 7.45. It is notified that the trains will not run until further notice. —What the Pressmen Found.— A reporter who was sent to Matawhero and Bushmere says : " My first sight of the floocUd country was at the back of the Poverty Bay Turf Club's course. Making in the direction of the Matawhero Hotel, I travelled through water all the time. The flood was coming very rapidly, covering the road to a deptn of 18in to 2ft. The houses along the road between Makaraka and the Matawhero Hotel were completely awash. Messrs H. C. Gibbons and Co.'6 nursery was covered, and doubtless will have sustained serious damage, The residents along the road had to be rescued on horseback. The Willows settlement is also under water, but most of the stock had been shilted. Across the Matawhero district there was nothing but a sheet of water. On the Tearai side of the river, extending hallway between the bridge and Tearai. I saw Mr John Clarke bauds getting cattle out of their paddock, the stock all swimming. It was with much difficulty that some of Mr Clark's sheep were saved by dray. Their men on the drays report that they bumped ! up against sheep already drowned." The reporter found his way to Patutahi blocked, and that township and district had been completely cut off from communication, the telephone wires beinfj down. About 11.30 the previous night Mr J. Cameron, of Bnshinere, discovered that the river had broken over, and went round to his neighbors as far as he could with a lantern warning them. At ten o'clock yesterday morning, between Mr H. J. Cameron's and Waerengahika, the waters were running over the road, being above the horse's girth all the way. The was playing havoc with the fences, a large number along the Pouparae road being carried away. At the new bridge at Matawhero only a few piles had got away, but the drift wood was Dumping with considerable force against the others, and knocking them out of position. ' All along the Bushmere road stock had been drowned, and settlers were busy removing others. The number of stock lost in the Bushmere and Waerengahika districts was e-ti-mated at over 2,000. In the Kiaora dairy factory the water was three to four feel deep. In Mr King's house there was about 2ft of water at 6 a.m., and the family took refuge in the loft until the boats came. Mr Wal'h, of Makaraka, reports- the loss of £2OO worth of chaff. The reporter adds that all the pigs were drowned; in fact, most of the pic farms on the flats have been wiped out. The chief aim of the setters now is to provide feed for the stock that have been rescued, v-hich, it is feared, for some days to come will be a very serious problem. Another reporter, who was sent to the Makauri distr'ct. the centre of the flood telephoned:—"Tumincr down King's road towards the schoolhouse one entered the flooded country. A bridge jrrt round the corner was under water, the flood rushm? over it at a great rate. By the tim» the sehoolhouse was reached one was fairly \v flood water. The schoolma.ifer's house *w?i surrounded, and a number of taken refntrp in tfce school, including Messrs Graffar, W. Witters, ar>d T? Best. Th?v. were aroused on Tuesday morrrrnir. hotwpen six and seven o'clock, bv the men of the water, and hod about four feet of water th«r bouses. From the pchootbo>os© to the ralwar line tIKTe was about tired feet of water along the road, atromzbz. • I nroceeded as far as

the railway line, where there was a wash-' out. At this place a number of sneep had been wasued along. In one of the settler's back yards wero two horses waist deep in water, chewing the bark off the trees. The holding paddocks of the Gisborne sheep farmers had 1,200 sheep belonging either to Barron Bros, or James Shepperd. Of that 1,200 considerably over 1,000 have been drowned, and they were floating about—a very pitiable sight. Those saved were about a dozen, on a Uttle mound in the centre of the paddock, and at few more on a single rise/perhaps not more than fifty in all." A third reporter, who was sent to Waerengahika and Ormond, reports heavy losses in that direction. Settlers were being refuged in tie Waerengahika Hotel, over the ground floor of which the water war washing, and in the Maori Theological College some of them had to wade through flooded water, and were in a pitiable state. The road to Ormond was blocked by the flood, which nearly covered the tops of the telepraph poles, and the reporter through bv making a detour and scrambling ovei the hill?. Ormond was safe, though th/ water was over the low-lying portions. Horses in the pound had drowned. —Rescued With Difficulty.— At Ormond yesterday morning there was considerable excitement over the re cue of a man named Jack Bonand. He was cut off on a small piece of land by the river breaking through, and considerable diffi culty was experienced in passing a line across to bring him over. He was rescued amid much excitement. Further inland floods are reported at Karaki and Wi.ata. tutu, but the damage is comparatively small. It is impossible thus early to give anything , like an exact idea of i —The Losses.— | With the water covering the country, as it is, and their hurried exodus, the settlers axe unable to state what they have lost. Amongst the lareer lorses are A. Brown, Waerengahika, 500 sheep; G. Brown, 1,100 sheep; Thomas*, Makauri, 356 sheep; Brown, Waerengah'ka, 500 fbeep; T. O'Connell. Waerenoahika, 1.000 fheep; J. Jones, Torake, 500 head of stock and a valuable maize crop. ' —Rescue Work.-- ' Tbomrh the flood does not approach anything like the level of 1874. being; Bft lower at Ormond, it is sufficiently heavy to involve serious loss to many industrious settlers. The dairy industry on the flats will he crippled for the time beim, and settlers wi'l have great trouble in securing stock they have salvaged ; but if they can tide over th rr difficulty they will doubtless find the oonntry greatly enriched bv the silt that has been spread over the surface. It was round about Matawhero • and Makauri that the flood was heaviest, and rescue parties were early at work. From Makaraka ten families were brought in by trap and coach before 8 a.m. Whai tie seriousness of the inundation was realised, men were sent to town for boats. Sergeant Williams and three constables proceeded out from town with the relief party, which took the first boat out. The sergeant subsequently applied for further boats, and at 10.30 two more were despatched. At eleven o'clock a man rode into town, stating that more boats were urgently needed to rescue the people. The crew wluch manned one of the boats reported during the morning that they proceeding as far as Makauri, but could not get beyond, owing to the swiftness of the current. All the Makauri settlers are safe, a boat having b.-en sent out along the Whataupoko road, and have refuged in the schoolbouse, where there were about midday from thirty to forty people. Two or time of the women who have been turned out of then- houses are in feeble health. Other Makauri settlers reached Wareugahika. The river broke thmragh at this town, hap about midnight. The water is pouring from the river through Waerengahika, making in the direction of the Taruheru River, past Kiaoia factory. Mr R. J. Cook and family, living near Waerengahika, managed to escape with their lives. Mr Cook lost a lot of stock, and it is estimated that in a few hours fully 2,000 sheep have been drowned in the vicinity of Waeiengahika. The main road in the township is up to the horse's girth, the water running very strong. The main road from Waerengahika towards town, where it is dry, is crowded with stock which have escaped tho flood water. There is little food for them, and some may perish of starvation and exposure. Mr Thomas (Makauri) had 356 sheep removed on Monday to what he thought a place of safety. It would have been better for him to have kept them at home, for, whilst everything about his own place was safe, the sheep he shifted were drowned. A large portion of his crop has also been swept away. The party who rescued Mr and Mis T. King and family state that they were found in a garretj having removed the iron from the roof of their building, through which they showed signals of distress, firing a gun to attract attention. There was over Bft of water in the house. The flood struck Whatatutu at seven o'clock on Monday evening, and the waters crept into Messrs Richards and Hawkins's store and several houses in the township. The settlers flooded out took refuge at the hotel, having to wade waistdeep along the roads. Portion of the —Gisborne Cemetery is Under Water, and amongst other things seen floating down Stream was a small coffin, supposed to have been washed out of its grave. The flood is accounted for by the melt ing of the snow by the warmer iains of Monday, there haying been a heavy snowfall on Sunday.