SECOND FLOOD THREATENS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2645, 14 May 1923, Page 5

SECOND FLOOD THREATENS.

HEAVY RAIN IN DUNEDIN. EXODUS OF HOUSEHOLDERS YESTERDAY. PARTS AGAIN INUNDATED. [Per Press Association.] DUNEDIN, Last Night. The north side of Dunedin city is threatened with another flood, which may probably be as serious and as disastrous as the visitation three weeks ago. Rain commenced to fall about 2 a.m. to-day and has continued .in a steady downpour ever since, with no indications of clearing at the time of wiring (4 p.m.). The two streams which junction below the Botanic Gardens have both overflowed their banks and again threaten trouble. Lindsay’s Creek, which flows through the North East Valley, is practically as high as it was three weeks ago, but the Water of Leith is not yet swollen to the extent it was on the evening of April 22.

In the North East Valley many houses have been vacated and preparations are being made to leave others. It is probably safe to say that one hundred families will have left their homes before darkness sets in. In many of these cases the water has not yet entered the houses, but the people fear repetitions of the previous visitation and have left as a precautionary measure. The main street at the corner of Botanic Gardens is impassable, the water being three feet deep in the middle of the thoroughfare. In fact, a large section of the residential area between Lindsay’s bridge and the Gardens is inundated to a depth varying from two to three feet. In the Woodhaugh Valley there is a vast volume of water pouring down the Leith, but it is not quite ‘so serious as it was three weeks ago. The waters are, however, rushing down Duke Street like a mill race. At the lower end of the Leith, Harbour Terrace, within a few chains of the Dunedin railway station, is again badly affected, the water in the street being from three to four feet deep and up to the window sills in many houses. Some of the bridges which cross the Water of Leith were badly shaken at the previous flood, and will doubtless be severely tested should the stream continue to rise.

The south end of the city is only 'slightly affected so far, but the residents are apprehensive and preparations are being made to vacate the houses there. It is yet too early to give any idea as to the position of the railways, but it is known that several minor slips are threatened between Sawyer’s Bay and Mihiwaka. Barge gangs of men are guarding the railway between the city and Wingatui to prevent the water flowing through the Caversham tunnel, which is credited with being largely responsible for the flooding in South Dunedin and Caversham three weeks ago.

The Taieri plains, which are not free of water from the last flood, are much more seriously threatened on this occasion, as the protection banks along- the Taieri River were broken in several places in North Taieri on April 22 and fresh breaches have been made, so that indications are that the Taieri farmers will be in a sorry plight. The bridges and approaches have been washed away and the water on miles of roads varies from 2 feet to 3* feet deep. Part of the town of Mosgiel is under water and stock is being removed to safety. For the last half hour (5.30 p.m.) the rain has eased off and reports from the north end are that all danger may be passed and the water has commenced to recede. Up to 8.30 p.m. two inches of rain had fallen.

TAIERI BURSTS ITS BANKS. * POSITION IN CITY IMPROVED. [Per Press Association.] (Extraordinary) DUNEDIN, This Morning. The position in the city has much improved < and little danger is now anticipated, taut the position at the Taieri is rather alarming. Warning guns were fired in Outram this afternoon ■and bands of workers strengthened the banks of the Taieri river, but at 11 o’clock last night advice was received that a bank had burst, and that resi. dents were leaving their homes. Many farmers of North Taieri are now housed in the lofts of their barns. Messages from the goldfields district state that the river is falling, but that the worst will not bo known of its effect on Outram till twelve hours yet. DAMAGE £IOO,OOO. ESTIMATES FOR NORTH CANTERBURY. CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night. With the sun at last shining over the sodden countryside and the flood water rapidly subsiding, attention is turning to a survey of the position and estimates of the damage caused. As yet, these estimates are largely guesswork, but a reliable authority places the damage to bridges alone at £50,000, and bridges alone are only one item in a long list. The Railway Department is unable as yet even to guess at what the total repair bill will be for the tracks. On the north line alone there is two months’ work for large gangs before the line is returned to its normal state. Road erosion and slips, damage to private property and destruction of crops, as well as the hold-up to business, all go to swell the total cost, which in North Canterbury alone is expected by some authorities to reach £IOO,OOO. No estimate of the damage to the Midland railway line can be made, though it is known it is very great.