50 MEN IN PERIL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22349, 21 February 1936, Page 10

50 MEN IN PERIL

MENACE OF FLOOD marooned on island RESCUE EFFORTS FAIL . STREAMS IMPASSABLE [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION*] CHRISTCHURCH. Thursday Fifty relief workers in camp near the Ashley Bridge, on the Main North Road, were surrounded by flood waters on an island between the Ashley River and Saltwater Creek. Their plight is one of considerable danger, as there is a possibility of the stop bank giving way and releasing a heavy volume of flood waters. Efforts were made to-night to reach the men, first with horse and dray .and then with boats, but it was impossible to approach them with a dray, and boats could not be transported to the spot either from the north or south owing to the floods having made the roads, bridges, or streams impassable. The efforts to reach the men are continuing. If the stop bank holds it is not likely that the flood waters surrounding the camp will rise much more, and the men will be safe, but if the stop bank goes they will be in grave danger of being overwhelmed and their whole camp swept away. The rain had eased at a late hour to-night, and as the flooding is from rain-fed streams the waters will soon subside.