SWEPT BY FLOODS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18678, 7 April 1924, Page 10

SWEPT BY FLOODS.

DAMAGE IN NORTH. LOWER KAIPARA SUFFERS. I HAVOC ON THE RAILWAY. •• • /• ( . ' 1 BLOCKAGE OF A' TUNNEL. TRAINS UNABLE TO RUN. Damage by the floods to the main highways and 'bridges within 50 .miles north of Auckland alone is estimated by a county engineer at £50,000. It may be, as other observers shrewdly suggest, that this estimate J3 pitched a little .high, in view of a prospect of State subsidies, but, in any case, it is at least certain that the aggregate of emergency expenditure on extensive repairs in the counties concerned will be a severe tax on local

government. , A visit to the middle part of the ravaged area during the week-end revealed widespread havoc W> transit utilities Mid property, and b»vy loss in respect of the dairying industry. Dismal conditions began immediately out of Auckland, and became worse as the train ran toward a wet wilderness. Conditions at Helensville were almost surprisingly good. The place, of course, was sodden, but quite free of damage and pessimism. . The fringe of the floods and the sweep of their ill-effects in North "Auckland begins about five miles beyond Helensville.. ■ It is still impossible, however, to obtain anything like an accurate measure of the extensive damage done to this railway, the' roads, and farm - lands \ m the fertile, but now flooded valleys. Telephone and telegraph wires are still down in many places beyond Kaukapakana, 44 miles north of Auckland, trie general district system being widely interrupted. v Travel by road in the flooded area is hazardous; so much so, indeed, that even country storemen. who are pot easily kept back, have as yet been unable -to get provisions to isolated settlers, who are known to be-somewhat pinched lor stores. Several bridges on the road beyond Makarau are down, and in miay parts there are great pot-holes and wash-outs. ' : ' ' > . •x. Transit by launch to different points has been attempted at great risk,' owing to the immense quantity of timber and debris floating about the • Lower Kaipara River, and, when the tide is in, because of the scant clearance under bridges. Ihe navigators had to abandon their efforts to communicate with' isolated settlors. * The weather during the week-end dirt not improve conditions and circumstances; rain Ml for'the greater part of the time, being worse overnight. . : Scenes U Railway Slips.!! . : ,! ■ "'The 'fall- extent of the damage caused to the railway track between KaukapaLapa and Topuni is not yet known- All toe line 1 ' throughout the flooded district has not been surveyed, for the simple reason that it is blocked at many points in itb

iSrty miles of track have been more or tea, affected; some parts damaged badly, other-' portion* .requiring only minor ropairs, mostly reballasting. , . lie Tahekeroa tunnel is blocked at both ends l>y " fairly -heavy lafldabps, •«,- '■ uresentiHg■ a • conglomeration <»<-slurry-, . fee, ill-stirred porridge, tea-tree, supple- ,■ ppflw ana. . bush timfcifii.. , in© tunnel itself- is ai, kind of long reservoir, but this, when the muck-dam is' pierced, will help to slush away the debris from •tJui funnel V mouth. ; * - ' • -j. v The first break in the railway line was > rasr Kaukapakapa. i .It -was a bad one, with several ; interesting : features.,. .Ibe , flood-waters were deep and strong in the ' - flat : locality, ; and ran - over and against J "the: track &ke a mill-race, lifting lOOQyds. el the -lino >inV a piece, and thrusting ri 16ft. to the side, until, caught -and held by telegraph poles, the sleepers with - rails attached stood vertically ; Kite a fence. ' Seven ■ hundred, yards .v of scorn ballast were Trashed <slf*aii put of-w It>ed of tne track, ■ .■ ■■' ' •J-weST Sapid. Bepair Work. , v ~• ■}' 'IFitlpaix gang of fcbout 80 railwaymen and navvies, mostly from Auckland, did excellent, .wprk. in , repairing this part of - the damaged railway line. The track was xestored for partial traffic service- on Saturday, and many dairy farmers 1 were able - to rail a truck of • butter-fat to the dairy factory at Helens villa, r ' It waa ; a night to see this repair gang working "in an •• ugly' washout on the line' . near Kattohi, A landslide in a steep . gully, .be,»u washed down by a torrent - against a deep filling-in the railway track under which there was a culvert; This culycrt. was blocked, and a vicious dam. fed by continuous rain, was pounding - the track. . The whole stretch of fllling-in looked like toppling into a, deep gully. : Up;-to ; the- neck in the muddy flood, workmen groped - to, clear the jamb in the culvert, and occasionally a worker would go . right "'under' in a"; desperate effort to reifoove debris. - Eventually, -by :6nightfall, the danger of the track i collap■sing was., averted, and plans ; made for tackling" even more formidable tasks at slips and wash-outs beyond , Kanohi. f ' A - There is no camp in the locality of the /floods, i; amd the! railway .repair gang ; has to ; tetarn ;td Helensville *; each evening, • where they' 'are "accommodated at the expense of the department. ' ■ . ... . SuQwnslon o! Train Service.

Thert is little prospect of & resumption ' of through < train services before Thurs<d«y, if then. To achieve this will,necessitate substantial and remarkably laborions. work. ... 4 r ■ < v Many landslips are in sight ahead of the repair gang, and there .may be as . many more beyond Tahekeroa tunnel. It wsi» the intention of Mr. Lowe ,to survey tiui damaged track as far , as possible yesJ terday, but the i conditions did not favour .progress. ■ ...... • It was expected that the repair gang would be able yesterday to restore temporarily the railway • track as far as ; thus iraventing seven miles in . the day's work. , ;,c *-•> . \ ' , . Such fugitive information as has been obtained from more' northern localities in the flooded ■ and isolated area - shows that the railway :; line, beyond the Tahekeroa tunnel,, is still under water •at Ka'W , Flats, i more or less , damaged at Wa.ybj, 69 miles north of Auckland, where th* station yard was under six feet of watcat the neak of th* floods, and badxV darn-; aged both at Te Hana (75 miles) and Tomirii (79 miles) beyond the ci'i.' The "line is clear, however, , "bitween .Wliangarei and Maungaturoto- .. 'T New Portion of Lino Escapes. •' ,As far as railway official reports show, >lhe.part of ; the North Auckland Hue- most Recently constructed was not subjected to serious flooding at all, which was well or ''j® track, which runs through rather unstable territory, from an engineering pomt cf view. The delude ' last, Thursday was most 17? r v''"i ? districts between Topum wi, p i ka f' north and south, aid ! W ° r L and J¥* ar * V"Lts, east and west-. borne of the rail way men who wcm in the centre of it declare ; that. it was -'the worst downpour they hadexnerievce.l •m the ' district for-- a .wore of. • rears There Iras been talk even of cloud burls' but without convincing evidence in bujj-'.-port- of.it. , . The B/iilwav Department .has about 100 men empoyed on flood damage repair iWOfk in the -North Auckland district. »,.X'nlC*s: good weather -assist. ihe worker*, rwho iiA.vo been drenched . and hindered fop davis, there it ; very little chance ot »fc^^ fo Ske th : ° l th °