MOTORISTS MAROONED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20256, 16 May 1929, Page 8

MOTORISTS MAROONED.

TRAPPED AT A FORD. NIGHT IN HEAVY RAIN. COLD, 'WET AND HUNGRY. RESCUE MADE IN MORNING. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] NAPIER. Wednesday. An unenviablo experience which fortunately ended happily was that of 50 service car passengers, who were trapped by flood waters at the Tangoio Creek ford on the Napier-Wairoa Road, where they spent last night cold, wet and hungry. Tho first service cars left Wairoa on the run to Napier at 9.30 yesterday morning, and others followed throughout the day. They were able to proceed on the journey of 80 miles as far as the Tangoio Creek ford, about 16 miles from Napier, where the stream, swollen by heavy rain, had developed into a raging torrent that defied passage. In the meantime a slip at White Pine Bush, farther north, made a return impossible, and the late afternoon found 13 service cars and three motor-trucks drawn up in drenching rain at the ford, unable to cross and unable to turn back. Half-a-Grown For Cigarettes. The party of 50 passengers included 20 ladies. They were faced with a night in terrible weather and with not an ounce of sustenance in the way of food. Crowded cars made no comfortable sleeping berths. Cigarettes wero in great demand, and, of course, were in proportionately short supply. One thrifty passenger sold another a packet of cigarettes for half a crown, and the purchaser considered himself fortunate. Assistance arrived by 10 o'clock this morning, but tho ford was still impassable. Three wires were thrown across the raging water and secured to a tree A ladder was thsn suspended from the wires in such a way with a rope fixed to it that it could be pulled to and fro. By means of this improvised lifeline the drenched passengers and their luggage were drawn across one by one to tho Napier side to waiting reserve cars. By 2 o'clock this afternoon the last of the party had reached Napier arid muchneeded comfort. Oar Carried Downstream. Another unenviable experience was that of three men who attempted to reach Napier from Wairoa by car on Monday night. Reaching the Tangoio ford they found it impassable, and returned to Wairoa. Last evening a second attempt was made, and this time the ford was successfully crossed. Owing to a warning of the state of the roads ahead of him the driver decided to return to Waikari, half-way between Napier and Wairoa. While recrossing the ford the car got into difficulties, and its three occupants had to abandon it and wade to the bank. The car was then overturned and carried some way downstream. Three men, wet and tired, began a weary walk in the darkness over the hills to Waikoau, where, according to latest advices, they are now quartered in a roadside shack.