TERRIFIC DELUGE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 121, 7 May 1934, Page 6

TERRIFIC DELUGE

CANTERBURY FLOODS Families Leave Their Homes MUCH DAMAGE DONE By Telegraph—Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, May 6 Disastrous floods occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning in the valleys and flats on the southward slopes of Banks Peninsula facing the shores of Lake Ellesmere. The total fall in Christchurch was about four inches, the heaviest rain for four years at least, and most of the heaviest rain fell in the early hours of Saturday morning. In the city the damage was negligible. The Heathcote river, held hack by the high tide, stopped the outfall of two storm-water drains, and this led to streets being lightly Hooded. Aloorehouse Avenue and Spreydon were the parts most affected. When the tide receded and the rain slackened about noon on Saturday, ceasing altogether at 4 o’clock, the storm waters soon disappeared. None of the large rivers, which are all snow-fed, flooded at all, and other rain-fed streams on the plain, while in a heavy state, did no damage. Excessive floods on the limited area below Banks Peninsula were caused by the rain storm of extreme severity early on Saturday morning. The two beautiful little valleys, Price’s Valley and Kaituna Valley, were laid waste on the lower levels by raging floods on the hill tops and southern slopes. The terrific deluge caused a phenomenal run-off into the valleys, and little streams which ordinarily wind slowly to Lake Ellesmere became fierce, swift torrents, sweeping all before them. In Price’s Valley, six small bridges were either swept away or were damaged and had the approaches scoured out. Roads where the current had passed over them were stripped of shingle and turned into watercourses. Whole areas of tilled land were completely stripped of soil. One settler Jost a field of 11 acres of potatoes ready for digging. Not only were the potatoes washed out but all the soil also ROAD IMPASSABLE. The main road to Little River runs round the base of the hills past the mouths of these valleys. The road was deeply flooded yesterday and is still impassable to-day. The pressure of the flood waters coursing down from the valleys above caused several washouts in the Little River railway line fringing the lake which acted as a stopbank. A small train was isolated. It passed over a culveit and th© weight shook it in its already weakened condition, and it was promptly washed away. Further on the tram was stopped by another washout, so that it had to stay on its little island. Ihe carriages have since been removed. A repair gang packed the culvert tempoiarily and the carriages were brought to the city, but the engine still remains there. The whole line is covered with debris, mostly logs and boulders, and will not be clear until to-morrow. At Little River, a low-lying township at the head of Lake Forsyth, the water rose to the level of the railway station platform before it receded. On the main road through the township the water ran in a five-knot current at a depth of two or three feet. . Several houses were flooded and families had to be rescued in the early hours. Little news is yet available .from the township, but it is stated that the damage is severe and that stock losses are also serious. But for the low level of both Lake Forsyth and Lake Ellesmere, which allowed the flood waters to get away, the damage would have been much more severe. ALARMING RISE. On the slopes where this torrential rain fell the land rises from the plain fairly steeply to a height of about 3000 feet, so that the extreme precipitation of moisture caused the floods to rise with alarming suddenness. Phenomena! rains fell at Motukarara. At the base of the hills the rainfall was 12 inches, at Akaroa 11.43 inches and on the hill tops, where no records are available, the fall must have been even heavier. At Little River the following families had to leave their homes:Withers, Dawber, Louden, Rout, W. Lcthwaite, J. Keenan, Breitmeyer, Ferris. Paterson, Mould. In Kaituna Valley: A. Stephens, S. Turner, T. L. Lamport, A. Marsh, W, Parkinson. In Price’s Valley: W. A. Gray, J. R. Parrish. In Okute Valley two bridges have been swept away and in Western Valley two bridges. At Peraki Commander S. Hall had to leave his home. His tennis court, garden and shrubbery were swept away. At Te Oke Mr Gordon Murray had his cow bails and chaff house moved some chains away and lost all his winter feed. Many of these settlers lost stock, but it is impossible yet even to estimate the total loss. Carcases of calves, sheep, pigs and hens lie scattered in the valleys, but the total number may not be calamitous.