FLOOD DISASTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22971, 24 February 1938, Page 14

FLOOD DISASTER

VIEW OF MR. SEIPLE ] PHENOMENAL CLOUDBURST NOBODY BLAMEWORTHY 1 EARLIER OPINION CONFIRMED 1 [by telegbaph —OWN correspondent] ] GISBORNE, Wednesday The Minister of Public Works, Hon. R. Semple, paid a visit to Bartletts to-day in company with Mr. John Wood, engineer in chief to the Public Works Department, and local officials. The party also inspected the sito of Boyd's Camp, which was washed away in tho week-end floods, and were taken to the places where two main highway bridges disappeared. Standing on the bank of the Maraetaha Piver, beside the site of the concrete bridge, Mr. Semple said that what ho had seen confirmed the conclusion he had reached from a study of the reports made to him —that it was a cloudburst which was the cause of the terrific amount of damage and the appalling loss of life at Kopuawhara, and that nothing like it had happened in the history of living man in Now Zealand, or perhaps centuries before that. "Evidence on both sides of the hills proves that," continued the Minister. "Hero we have the evidence of the old fortifications used by the Maoris in their defence against Te Kooti 68 years ago. These fortifications had never been silted up until this flood. That ; is clear evidence that this has been a ; phenomenal flood. Force of the Water "This bridge, which has been washed | away," added the Minister, "had three j steel and concrete spans, each weigh-1 j ing about 50 tons. They were carried j i four chains down the river. They were j not left on the river bed, but were | thrown up on the bank. That will give ( some idea of the force of the water, j The other bridge, which was built of timber, had been up for 25 years. The i previous bridge on this Bite had been; on exactly the same level, and in th' 3 ■ same position, for about 40 years. "What has happened here also oc- j curred on tho other side of the hills, j and it was tho same cloudburst. A' lucky thing is that the people here j were not subject to the same experi- : ence as those at Kopuawhara, where aj portion of tho river was blocked before ' tho water could find a discharge." Mr. Semple said the indications at ; Kopuawhara were that the water just; above the camp reached a level approximately 12ft. higher than the camp, site. At Boyd's Camp, on the Gisborne side of the hills, the people were able | to get away on to high ground, where-j as No. 4 camp at Kopuawhara was in- 1 undated and the occupants trapped, as the stream came down like a tidal wave. "An Act of God" "My investigation," continued Mr. Semple "has convinced me beyond doubt—as I was, indeed, convinced, before I left Wellington—that there is no blame attached to anybody. Aa I have stated previously, it was an act of God." The Minister said he noted all along the route of his journey to-day that the tops of the hills had literally melted away in the deluge. After surveying tho countryside and the millions of tons of silt which had been deposited in the fertile valleys, it was amazing to know that the loss of life was not much greater. Referring to a suggestion that spoil dumped from the railway cuttings into the streams of the district contributed to the seriousness of thedisl aster at Kopuawhara, the Minister > stated emphatically .that spoil dumped [ into the rivers could have had nothing ■ to do with it. The spoil would have melted away in such a current. The cause of the blockage, he added, ■ was an accumulation of logs and drift- ■ wood brought down from the hillsides . and lodged in the throat of the stream just above No. 4 camp. Many of the ' logs were later found 30 to 40ft. above the ordinary creek flow. The stream i could not be called a river. In normal : times it was a mere trickle of water r which the men. could hop across.