ORDEAL IN STORM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23542, 30 December 1939, Page 9

ORDEAL IN STORM

CAMPERS' ESCAPE HUGE LANDSLIDE WHOLE HILLSIDES MOVE . SCENE .01? DESOLATION [BY TELEGRAPH—OWN COItUESPOXDENT] • • WELLINGTON; Friday An amazing story of the torrential rain and slips at Orongorongo was brought to Petone to-day by a camper, Mr. JJ. Durrant, of Korokoro, who lost his car and suffered privations throughout the heavy rainfall of. Tuesday night. He described the scenes ,of. desolation around the J{iddiiord Station homestead, which was wrecked by a tremendous slide of earth and rock. "You can have no idea of what happened,' 1 Mr. Durrant said. "The wlioje configuration of the country has been altered. My companion, Mr. V. ltadcliffe," and 1 arrived at the Hiddiford homestead about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, intending to spend a few days shooting and fishing. We turned along tlio coast road and about a mile and a-half further on decided, as the going was somewhat rough, to leave the car. "I chose what appeared to be an absolutely safe place in which to park the car, avoiding leaving it under any cliff faces for fear tho rocks might fall on it. The place whero it was left was at the foot of a comparatively gentle slopo and 110 one would dream that it could come to any harm. Water Falls in Torrents "Wo'then proceeded some distance further 011 and pitched our tent 011 a gentle slope about 30 yards from a stream, which was then a tiny trickle. About 9 p.m. it commenced to rain and soon the water was coming down in torrents. "At midnight there was a heavy downpour. Water was soon pouring through our tent and we were wet through. At 1 a.m., with a tremendous roar, a slip occurred, and in the morning we saw that hundreds of thousands ot tons of earth ami rocks had slipped down the hillside a few yards away from our tent. The slip was a quarter of a mile high and the same distance across. "We dared not move until daylight, as wo had 110 idea' of what had happened, but just hung on to our'tent until morning. Daylight revealed a scene of absolute desolation. Practically tho whole of the coast road was buried under from 50 to 00 slips and the strange thing was that it was not the cliff faces that came away, but whole hillsides of gentle slopes, which everyone considered perfectly t safc. Other Dampers' Plight "We knew that three other young men were camped in a cave about a mile further 011 and we thought they would have weathered the storm and that we would got a cup of tea. When we got there we found there were 3ft. of water in the cave and, like ourselves, the campers had not been able to get a hot drink. "Jleturning to our tent wo packed what we could and, leaving the tent standing, made for Barney's Whare, a scout hut. There we found Mr. It. Nelson and Mr. S. Jaeger, who were camping there. The whare was flooded out and tho food, which they had placed in what was thought to be a sale place some distance from the whare, was washed away. However, we wore able to get a cup of tea. We thought our worries were now over and set out to get the car. 011 the; way along we picked up the three young men who had been in the cave. The whole of the slope above the car, however, had slipped down and the car was half covered, some of the ro.cks round it-being over 10ft. in diameter. When Ave got there the slip was still moving and as we watched we saw the car gradually covered until only the root "was showing. There, I am afraid, the car will have to remain, as even if it could be uncovered lingo rocks and debris are lying for hundreds of yards around it.. Damage to House

"We then tramped round to Mr. It iddi l'ord's house, where, we were met by a scene of absolute desolation. No one could have conceived that such a thing could have happened. There are no big hills immediately behind the house, but the slope behind crashed into the rear of the house, the lloors of which were covered deep with mud, rocks and water. One of the inmates in the early morning had attempted to open the buck door, and when he succeeded he w:as swept back through three rooms by the inrush of water and mud. The walls of the house had to be hacked awav to let out the water." .Mr. Durrant and the rest of the party left for home. For five miles from Mr. Riddiford's place hardly anything is left of the road, which for stretches of a quarter of a mile has. been completely washed away. At present it can be negotiated with difficulty l on horseback. Mr. ltiddiford is obtaining supples bv pack horse. Mr. Durrant states that it will be months before the road and bridges are restored.