SCENE OF HAVOC

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23023, 28 April 1938, Page 14

SCENE OF HAVOC

RICH FARM AREA BUFtIED DEEP IN SILT WATERS NOW RECEDING CLEARING COUNTRY ROADS [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] HASTINGS, Wednesday Although considerable quantities of flood waters cover large tracts of land in the Hastings district, the position is improving rapidly as the river levels continue to fall. The greater part of 20,000 acres in the Esk Valley, which until Sunday contained one of the most picturesque and valuable farming districts in the Dominion, has been turned into a desolate waste. A deep bed of silt has spread over tho valley floor, raising it from two to 10 feet and obliterating fields and fences. Long sections of tho Napier-Wairoa railway through the valley, together with the embankment, have vanished, and the greater part of the highway no longer exists. Many houses built on the flats are almost buried in silt, which is as deep inside as outside. Stock losses are heavy, and in many cases where the animals were saved they are standing on muddy wastes. Pedestrians Rescued

Up to to-night no vehicular traffic was possible in the valley. Several pedestrians have sunk to their waist in silt before being rescued. Road communication with Napier has been restored through Fernhill, and the bus service between Hastings and Napier is again using the main highway, passengers being transferred across the washout at the bridge over the Tutaekuri River. Clive township, however, is still isolated.

The Pakowhai district also remains cut off by the usunl direct route from Hastings, relief to the settlers having to be afforded from the Taradale end. Gangs are busily clearing tracks along the country roads. There is no railway communication with Napier, Hastings being the temporary terminus for all trains. Communication with the south from Hastings is possible, although a considerable volume of water is flowing in the Awanui stream across the road at Pakipaki. Hastings Business Area

Surface water is gradually getting away, and the Hastings Borough's essential services are being rapidly restored. The rain has ceased and the sun to-day shono at intervals. While the main business area of Hastings escaped damage, one establishment, Mr. H. G. Apsey's fruit cool store in Hastings Street North, fared badly. The lower portion of this twostoreyed building was flooded to a depth of over 18in. and thousands of cases of apples and pears are affected. A grading machine, which is urgently required for export purposes, is surrounded by nearly 18in. of water, on which is floating hundreds of apples. The cooler, in which there are between 3000 and 4000 cases of picked and packed apples and pears, a good portion of them awaiting exportation, is similarly isolated by water. Owing to the rise in the temperature in the cooler it is considered more than likely that a big portion of the fruit held in Btorage will be seriously affected.

SCENE FROM THE AIR EAST COAST DISTRICT? VAST TRACTS UNDER WATER SEA DISCOLOURED FOR MILES [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] GISBORNE, Wednesday A bird's-eye view of the flood damage between Hastings and Gisborne was afforded passengers travelling by the East Coast Airways service. Poor visibility at a high altitude made it necessary 'for the aeroplane to fly under cloudbarik for the greater part of the distance. Speaking of a flight from Palmerston North to Gisborne, Mr. T. W. White said vast traots of land were under water between Hastings and Gisborne and the sea was discoloured for miles along the coast with silt-charged flood waters from the streams. There was driftwood floating all the way up the coast. ; , : - The low-lying country surrounding Hastings was under water. The land in Ahuriri Lagoon, at Napier, that had been reclaimed for small farms was covered by water deep enough for rowboats. Other flat country about Napier also was under water. The position was the same at Wairoa and Whakaki, and all the Mahia Peninsula was badly flooded and silted. Passengers said they saw water lying over a considerable part of northern Hawke's Bay, the sites of the two aerodromes at Napier being submerged and also the whole of the area reclaimed after the 1931 earthquake from the bed of the old inner harbour. Napier seemed to be almost an island cut off by sheets of water, shallow in places but deep on all tho lower levels. 32' INCHES OF RAIN RIVER 45FT. ABOVE NORMAL BRIDGES SUFFER SEVERELY [by telegraph—press association] NAPIER, Wednesday From Saturday night until Tuesday morning the rainfall at Kotemaori was 19in. and at Putorino 32in- Much damage has been done to roads, railways and telegraph lines in this district. Both ,the Mohaka road bridges and both the Waikoau Gorge bridges have gone. The Mohaka River at the Mohaka Viaduct reached 45ft. above the normal level. '