SOUTHERN FLOODS.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1882, 29 March 1913, Page 5

SOUTHERN FLOODS.

| MUCH DISLOCATION. i (Proes Association. —By Telegraph. Gore, Yesterday, t It lias been raining heavily in this - | district for the last 24 hours and t inches of rain have fallen. The rivers are all in high flood. 3 At Lumsden the Oreti river over- - flowed ami entered the town. The flood is the highest since the big I flood of 1878. All tourist traffic to r the cold lakes is cut off. There are i three washouts on the railway be- ; tween Lumsden and Kingston, which stop all trains Sluicing companies have had to stop work, and are compelled to turn the water out of the races Much crop is still in the paddocks, and the outlook for the farmers is very serious. LATER DETAILS. STOCK LOSSES FEARED. Gore, Last Night. The river was still rising at 3 p.m., and was flowing through the lower part of the town. Tnere was no sign of the rain abating. Several I horsemen managed to get through from Mossburn. They ] eport several washouts on the Mossburn line. Great losses of stock are likely in the low lying country, and already sheep are coming down the river. A number of residences are partly submerged, and the occupants are flitting to drier ground. Telegraphic communication with Te Anau is suspended, the wires I being down. The Waikaka train, leaving Gore at 3.50 had to return, arriving at 6.45. It was impossible to get past Maitland owing to the floods. There is some doubt about the express from Dunedin getting through to-night, owing to wash-outs on the line between Gore and Pukeraie. It is still raining, and the Mataura river is rising. • HEAVY RAINS. NEARLY AN INCH AN HOUR. ' Timaru, Last Night. 1 Mount Cook Hermitage reports a bigger flood than the January one. I Ten inches of rain fell in 22 hours, ] and the gauge then became submerged. The hostel was invaded by water, and the tourists are preparing to take to tents on higher ground. One car bridge has gone, and the road is impassable generally. The flood comes from the Mueller glacier, and chunks of ice are coming away with boulders. Steady rain has fallen at Timaru since 3 p.m. The Fairlie and Mackenzie country report heavy and steady rain. j ■— I LATEST REPORTS. < Press Association messages received < late last night reported heavy rain < and swollen rivers in Central Otago, with danger of flood threatening at ] Cromwell and Alexandra. There was heavy rain at Dunedin. < In "Southland rain has fallen heav- j ily ever since Thursday and caused i severe floods all over tne province. 1 A young man named J. Wilsh was I drowned through a trap which he ] was driving falling into the Otapiri River. Two brothers named Dick- ( son, riding with him, reached a > (small island and were marooned i there for some hours. c The Dunedin-Invercaigill express train last night did not go beyond Clinton owing to a wash-out at Puherau. There are also washouts on the Otautau, Lumsden, Kingston, and Mossburn lines Dead sheep washed down by th e . rivers are counted in hundreds. •