STORM AND FLOOD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIX, Issue 9985, 14 March 1893, Page 5

STORM AND FLOOD.

THE NEW SOUTH WALES FLOODS. {SPSOIAL TO PttKSS ASSOCIATION.! NEWCASTLE, Mahch 13. The water in West Maitland reached the eecond floors of two«storied buildings. The inhabitants are subsisting on biscuits and Jam, no other food being procurable. The water is now receding. Several hundreds of the residents of Morpeth were rescued after being on the roofs of their dwellings all night. The loss of live stock is enormous, and all the crops are deatroyed. Many people are in a pitiable state, being totally ruined j while -the-dis-tress among all classes is acute. THE NORTH ISLAND GALE. DETAILS OP DAMAGE. [Feb Pbbss Association.] HAWEEA, Mauch 18. Friday and Saturday’s gale was experienced here in full force. In twenty-four hours nearly six inches of rain fell. No very serious damage has been done in town, but in the outlying districts great loss has been occasioned, and the bridges over several rivers and streams are either partially or totally destroyed. The flood <m the plains was the heaviest recorded, and the damage will amount to a large sum. The Otakeho bridge has been washed away, and the estimated cost of a new one is .£250. One span was carried away from the Kaupokonui bridge on the Otakeho side, leaving a gap a chain wide, between the bank and the portion of the bridge that is left standing. The damage to the district will probably exceed £IOOO, At Eaponga ten inches of rain fell in twentyfour hours. NEW PLYMOUTH, Maech 18.

In New Plymouth no damage has been done, but of the Taranaki, Clifton, and Stratford Counties, accounts ‘ate very deplorable. Several bridges were washed away, and a large number of Culverts burst, doing damage to the reads, which will require some thousands ot pounds to repair. The contractor for the mails between Opunake and New Plymouth is in town, and is putting on a coach from here to Heimama, where the bridge is washed away, so that comtnnai» cation with the southern towns ,on thh' coast may not be stopped. The gale must have been very severe in the Strait, lot the steamer MaLinapua, which left here on Friday morning, returned for shelter to the breakwater, where she remained till the evening, when, .the gale abating, she started again. The passengers came ashore, and many this morning went on by train to Wellington. They say they had a dreadful time on hoard the steamer. The weather is fine now, NAPIEE, Masoh 18. Tremendously heavy rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, fell this after-, noon, flooding the lower parts of the town and entering some of the low-lying hernees. Steady rain is now falling. WELLINGTON, March 18. The wall at the Thorndon Esplanade originally cost .£7OOO, and it will take between two and three thousand to replace the damaged portion. The yacht Wonona, which is badly damaged, is insured for £250. The Thetis is a complete wreck. Houses off the Tinakorl road are still submerged. The culverts havingburst, a special channel will have to be out: before the water can get away. Captain Edwin says the storm was a tropical rotatory hurricane from between New Cale-i donia and New Zealand, and struck New; Zealand at Baglau, crossed the North' Island, and worked round to the south-east at Wellington. It was not felt south of Hokitika and EaikOura. The lowest pressure was 29’20, which, however, is not a very unusual reading.' Heavier gales have been felt here and as heavy rain, but rarely combined as they were on Friday. The wind is still southerly, and it is raining slightly again' this morning. The fellmongeries at Ngahauranga lost a good deal of wool and pelt?, including some forty bales Of . the cargo damaged by the Are on the ship.. Auckland. The Mayor is inviting subscriptions for distressed families. A wash-out occurred on the railway line at Te Ariki, near Inglewood. Trains meet on either side. It is expected that the line will be repaired to-day. Some anxiety is felt for the safely of the Patea railway bridge, a large quantity of the debris washed down threatening the piers, bub men have been set to work clearing away, and the Commissioners were informed to-day that all danger is over. The Wairarapa trains are dot expected to get through till Thursday. The Kaiwarra bridge will have to be rebuilt, but in the meantime will be temporarily repaired. The Hutb correspondent of the Evening Press, in wiring about the floods, says . “In the minds of many old settlers,the flood has been the worst known for twentytwo years, and considering that since July last the river has been inundating paddocks and houses all along the main road and western side, there is no anticipating where the river will make its next breach, to complete the utter destruction of all properties within half a mile of the main road. Unless, as I said in my letter to you last July, immediate steps are taken to stop the further progress of the river over its banks, :n a year or two not a portion of the Hutt will be worth 10s an sere. To see beautiful noble gum, poplar and oak trees destroyed Over an area of some miles, would, I am sure, cause much sympathy to be felt foe the settlers of the once lovely, and much sought after, Hutt Valley. Now it is all chaos.” . - The weather is still threatening. There is very little fresh to record in connection with the floods. As the servants are away from Government House, Lord Glasgow offered their quarters to those rendered homeless, but provision had already being made for the sufferers. The damage to the retaining wall at the Thorndon Esplanade le estimated at £2600, for which the City Council is responsible. A fund for the relief of local sufferers by the flood was opened this afternoon and £SO was collected. MASTEETON, March 13. Although the late storm was unusually severe and the rivers are higher than they have been for years past, the damage dona is not nearly sO great aa was anticipated. The roads are damaged in many places, and some stock has been drowned on the low-lying ground. CAPTAIN EDWIN’S STATEMENT. [fbcm our own CORRESPONDENT. 1 WELLINGTON, Mahch 13. I send you Captain Edwin’s interesting diagnosis of the late storm, aa he gave it to a Times reporter. Interviewed last night on the subject of the storm, Captain Edwin said:—This was a tropical hurricane or rotary storm, travelling from the north-west. So far as I can judge, it seems to have passed between New Caledonia and the coast of Queensland inaeouthwesterly direction, and then, at a .point lying in mid-ocean about 30deg south ahd 165 deg east, it evidently curved to the south-east; its centre, which would not bo more than from twenty to thirty miles across, striking the western coast of the North, Island at Raglan, and travelling across the island to Napier. Its entire circumference, however, embraced the whole of the western coast of New Zeeland from Hokitika (whence it travelled across the South Island to Kaikoufa on the east coast) right up to the North Cape. ITS DIAMETER would therefore be about seven hundred miles. The country to the south of a line drawn from Hokitika to .Kaihoura enjoyed fine weather throughout, but the rest of the Colony was involved in the hurricane. These hurricanes either blow spirally, or in concentric rings, which may be termed the lines of pressure, the intensity of which of course increases by regular gradations until you reach the centre, where the barometric reading would- be lowest. From the fact o° the hurricane, have a circular motion, you will readily understand that the direction of the wind varied at different points of the country over which it passed- Thui, it blew the north-west and north-east at the

recion lying. northward of tha Waikato,. ctu aging kfterwardato. the sonth-weat. 3m ' the southern portion of the «<wwrIsHnd and the northern portion of the .*nrh Islandit blew from the north-east south-east, changing to the eoufch-weat; h, -'i the lower portion of the North Island Wellington, of coarse) was ri«iu d by the heaviest part of thesouth,.*ia «idV. This, however,, only ronghly ii. Mirihee its direction. la order to get a n. 0.. correct idea, at different places you hiv.i u> divide the circle into quadrants. A-f'r THB hIRTOST OF THIS HURRICANE, I Sr-t. Ktw.uae aware of its approach on inn morning of Wednesday, MarchS. by my weather reports, a slight fall in the irlws, and the tendency of the wind to freshen from the north-east. It was then f hat l sent out my warnings for a gale about Friday; By the morning of March 9 the centre of the hurricane had reached to ■ About two hundred «nd fifty mileo westward of Bahian, in Welling ton. At that t'me *e had moderate northerly winds, with a falling barometer, and appearances of rain. On Friday, March 10, the centra of the hurricane had reached Riglan, and was working its way across that portion, of. the North Island, and it was there ragipg its'very height before nine o’clock op Friday night, when the gale began to break in full force upon Wellington. Between Friday and Saturday morning it had creased the centre of the North Island, and the barometer in places along its route had risen, generally by one o’clock bn 'Saturday the worst being over. But Wellington only experienced the height of its share of the hurricane between nine o’clock on Friday night and noon on Saturday. The lowest pressure in the centre of the storm was about 29*20. This it not a very unusual reading. In 1889 the giaas was down as low as 28*50. At nine n.m., on Saturday, the barometer varied (which snows the difference between the height of the barometer at one place and its ' height at another) seven-tenths of an inch between Lyttelton and Gisborne, a distance of about four hundred This indicated a gale of exceptional severity, at a gradient of an inch in a thousand miles means a heavy gsilc|.. 'Huirjficanea from the tropics not infrequently strike New Zealand, but they usually 'dissipate their energy of intensity before .reaching us, and' we merely get the rain they bring with them. Of such was the' downpour of rain at Auckland which spoilt the Bowling Tournament at the opening of the year. Another hurricane of greater intensity passed over Auckland on Feb. 24, and a slighter one on Feb. IS. ' THE QUEENSLAND RELIEF FUND. ; A: meeting of the Executive Committee vae held yesterday morning. His Worship tha. Mayor of Christchurch was in the chair, and others were present also the Mayors ofLinwood. Sydenham and Sumner, and Messrs W. R. Mitchell and E. S. Harley. It was resolved that the central list ahould he closed on the completion of today’s takings, and that his Worship the Mayor of Christchurch and Mr W. R. Mlfr-hall ahould be appointed a snh-Com-mittee to open a supplementary list, to dose on March 31; all moneys in the supplementary list to be' cabled to Queensland. Mr Mitchell proposed the motion, of which he had given notice at Friday’s meeting, viz., to cable .£350 at once to Brisbane. Be pointed out that out of the total subscribed, about £950 was voted for the. purchase of goods. The motion was carried. A letter was read from Mr Christmas that he was sending 15001 b of flour from the vestry of the Church of England, Eaiapoi, also the produce of eighteen sacks of wheat, presented by various persons in the Ohoka district. A good deal of dissatisfaction was expressed at the large proportion of expenses in connection with the Tahuna fete, but it was decided that, as the Committee had nothing to do with the matter, no further notice should he taken of it. The railway arrangements in connection with the regatta at Rhodes’ Bay on Thursday are advertised in this issue. On - Friday evening a local Committee carried out a very successful concert, under thepreaidency of Mr J. M. Yerrall, in the Wetiierell schoolroom, in aid of the Queensland sufferers. The room Was full, and.the different items wore well rendered. The proceeds were very encouraging to the p.rpmotera. The Treasurers of the Relief Fund, the Mayor, of Christchurch and Mr W. R. Mitchell, desire to acknowledge the receipt of tha following sums

Grand total ... £1872 14 0 The final acknowledgments will appear in papers. The following contributions of produce. Sen., have been received;—W. Fraser, one Tosg flour; mother, AvonsiJe, one package clothing; . throe parcels clothing from Avwnoiue; Shaw, .Uobm«'>T> and Go. and erapio.VPft#, go- ds value i,"."! Os Id ; psrcel '■ clothing pek T. Merries; two tons flour, Working ilea’s Club, Sydenham ; Trinity Congregational Church, one parcel of clothing value £4; Society of King’s Daughters clothing valne £6 10a. i Pj»b Faaon Abboo«*.tiom.] , DUNEDIN, Maech 13. The amount collected in and about Dunedin for Queensland, independent of of sums Bant direct, is now over £ISOO, aud the Committee bus decided to call in the lisle this week.

£ s. d. St Andrew’s Church, Oxford... 11 17“ 2 Proceeds Belfast concert 5 3 6 Balance W. Chesterfield’s list 0 15 0 Major of Linwood 1 1 0 T. Bingham 0 10 0 C. E. Craddock and another ... 0 9 6 Employees Andrews and Heaven 6 0 0 P. Hay man and Co* — Durham street Wesleyan 2 0 0 15 .1' Church 2 Collection at Cheviot sale 14 Ifi 9 St James’ Church, Southbridgo 7 11 3 J, Smith ... 1 1 0 JTKiohardson ... 1 1 0 •'Coilooted at Cfaertsey 5 4 7 ' Oxford Terrace Baptist Church 12 3 7 flatowood road Committee, per '"■ v G.'Watson ... 10 4 6 'Drainage Board employees ... 2 1 0 Employees P. Haymau and Co. 1 1 0 "Baptist Church, South Malvern 3 5 0 M, Sharp, Papanui 0 10 0 Service of. song. Lower High street B. C. Church 4 5 6 •'W. Scroogie and another 0 9 0 M. E. Wicks and another ... 0 13 0 he Mark’s Church (Greenpark) 1 7 3 Bmoiovees Wool Department Belfast Works 8 2 0 Church w 8 fi K-,w Brighton Beach Church 3 10 1 E*whiti Assembly, Kaights of Labour 4 7 0 St Paul’s Church, West Melton 1 3 0 ft tend 0 10 0 ■ Friend, per Gt. S. Cook 1 10 6 M i b K. H. Rhodes .50 0 Mr E. H. Rhodes 5 0 0 W«i,ley«c Church, Papanui ... 2 4 0 Westry Congregational Church S 3 9 Stuivof of Sydenham 1 1 0 I!, if. Bates - a a 0 John Tuompaon 1 0 0 W. Ward 0 10 0 ‘Sydenham Baptist Church ... 3 15 0 Sympathy—S. Ayrie lOe, Madoven 7a fid ... 0 17 6 St S flour’s Church 11 12 3 0 10 0 Sydenham School — children and staff 15 13 4 ’ W. J. Ktidd 1 1 0 Collected by Mrs Hutchison ... a 2 0 Small sums 0 IS 0 Wesleyan Church, Sydenham 1 9 0 Juvenile Oddfellows’Lodge ... 1 1 0 Leonard White 2 2 0 C. fl-Wiuuy 1 0 0 Working Men’s Club 3 12 G Hurt and header’s entertainment... 3G 19 10 . Total 238 5 3 amount 'already acknowledged 1G34 8 9