CANTERBURY FLOODS

Grey River Argus, 19 March 1941, Page 3

CANTERBURY FLOODS

BREAKING OF DROUGHT Heavy Rainfalls LPer Press Association] TIMARU, March IS. | After a prolonged dry spell, wmcl gave promise of being ser.ou..: foi farmers, who were handicapped m the autumn sowing of crops, the weather broke- in South Canterbury on Saturday. Since then there has been continuous rain. In some pans of the district over five inches has . been recorded. I The rivers are running high. As the rain is still falling, general flooding is imminent. The Pareora'River broke its southern bank this afternoon, flooding a considerable area, whence sheep I had to be rescued on horseback, as th e water was four feet deep m parts. The Waratah Station, in th e Albury district, has become isolated by road,- and a small bridge has been washed away in the Geraldine area In 'Umaru and along th? coast the fall has not been so heavy, though up till to-night 240 points lias been recorded. A Union Airways liner. which landed at Timaru yesterday on its trip to Dunedin,- owing to heavy rain, stayed the night, th? passengers going on by road. Though the airport was heavy,. the liner was, able to take off and return north this morning. The road services are running late to-night, but there are ho reports of wash-outs or serious hold-ups N. Canterbury Floods CHRISTCHURCH, March 18. Minor flooding and dislocation of communications were reported in North Canterbury, to-day, as the result of the first real rainfall the province has had since last winter. Three inches and more of rain are reported from the northern districts during the last forty-eight hours. The Pahau river was over the main north road, south of Culverden, and the Mason river ford, eight or nine miles north of Waiau, was impassable, and the mail bus from Kaikoura could not make the trip. Schools in the Oxford district were closed to-day, because many pupils were unable to negotiate the flooded streams. Ashley River Flood

PEOPLE MAROONED. 300 SHEEP WASHED TO SEA. CHRISTCHURCH, March 18. Marooned on a haystack in the middle of raging flood waters from the Ashley River, a young farmer, Arthur Wyllie, watched the . water rise at. the rate of three feet an hour, while he waited for a boat to rescue him this afternoon. He was on the north bank of the river, and, on the south bank, al the same time, an elderly woman, Miss M. Leggett, took refuge in the upper storey of her home, the lower floor of which was more than waist deep in water. Wyllie was rescued about 5.30 p.m. and Miss Leggett about half an hour later. Both had been isolated by the flood for two and a-half hours The flood in the Ashley began to reach dangerous proportions in the early afternoon. Wyllie then set out, with his two dogs, to shift 300 ewes and lambs from the lower paddocks of the farm of his father, James Wyllie. The flood waters rose so fast, however, that he reached the paddocks only in time to see the sheep being washed away. “I saw them bobbing about in the water like a mob of ducks,” said Wyllie. “They were all being carried off to sea.” It was impossible to make any attempt to save the sheep, for the waters were rising all the time Then Wyllie realised his own position was dangerous. He could not make his way back to his home, because that involved crossing the main stream of the flood waters. Fortunately, Wyilie’s plight was noticed from a bridge about 500 yards away. A boat brought from Kaiapoi, and Wyllie was rescued. When the rescue party .reached Miss Leggett’s house, the water was more than waist deep in the rooms on the ground floor. Miss Leggett could not be brought out that way, and had to be taken through an upper floor window and lowered to the boat from the verandah.