NORTHERN FLOOD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22045, 27 February 1935, Page 10

NORTHERN FLOOD

SETTLEMENTS SUFFER

SCHOOL CHILDREN'S ORDEAL

NIGHT SPENT IN WHARE

RESCUER'S NARROW ESCAPE

[by telegraph—own correspondent] KAIK.OHE, Tuesday

The full extent of the damage caused by the floods in the Southern Hokianga district is only now being realised. The three settlements that suffered most were Waimo, Omanaia and Whirinaki. Each of these valleys lies at the. foot*>f a high and precipitous ranee and when an abnormal rainfall takes place the streams that thread, the flats develop into raging torrents. Of the three valleys Waima was most severely dealt with. A large area surrounding the native school, the schoolhouso and the store new looks like an immense firewood yard. Thousands of trees stripped Of their bark lie in a tangled mass, where they were thrown by the rushing waters. Acres are covered with a blue-grey silt. In the midst of the piled debris a number of gangs are working trying to clear the main highway for traffic. Around the schoolhouse a gang is engaged in digging a trench to drain the building, and others are shovelline out of the residence the silt which reached in places right UP to the beds. Maoris to the Rescue Maoris rushed to the school and warned the teachers and children of the approach of the flood. As they left the building the water was already eddying round the school buildings and the children had to be carried through the flood by the Maoris who had given the alarm. Before the last child was safely on high ground the water was waist high and the desks in the school were floating about and the building was being pounded by logs that were being carried down, by the flood. One of the rescuers had a narrow escape from drowning. He attempted to go to the schoolhouse to get food for the children and was caught in the current and carried down the stream for about a quarter of a mile when he was swung into the bank. He grasped a stationary log and was helped to land by another Maori. Teachers Lose all Clothing

As the children could not get home they had to remain all night in a whare on the rising ground, where they had taken refuge. Mrs. White, a Maori woman, cooked kumaras for them and Mr. M. Kelly, the storekeeper, sent across tins of biscuits. Fortunately, as it was a wet day, none of the very young children was at school, there only being 30 present out of a total of 60. The teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Johnstone and Miss Fieckert, later moved to the new school house, which is being built on an elevated piece of ground, and are still camped there. They have lost all their clothes and a good deal of the furniture is spoiled. One Maori dwelling was washed away and its occupiers had to take refuge in a cowshed.

The crops in the Omanaia and Whirinaki valleys and in the lower Waima, as well as at Waima, have all been destroyed, and it is a disaster for the Maoris. At Rawene the water supply is still cut off. The county council has installed a pumping plant at an adjacent stream at Omanaia to get what wat,er there is available into the mains, and this is supplying the hospital and essential services. Householders are being allowed to use it for a limited time each day. ' '