DISASTROUS FLOODS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1136, 8 December 1893, Page 34

DISASTROUS FLOODS.

IMMENSE DAMAGE IN HAWKE’S BAY. LOSS OF LIFE. WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION OF CROPS. A DISTRICT SUBMERGED. NARROW ESCAPES. By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent. Hastings, December 4. It lias been raining continuously for several days, and all the low-lying parts of , the town are several feet under water. The rivers are . running bank high, and serious consequences are feared if the rain 'keeps on. A suspension bridge at Maraekakaho collapsed to-day, throwing five men into the river. It is reported that two have been drowned. Two others are supposed to be on an island a mile down the stream, and one has been rescued. A great part of the railway traffic has been suspended. Press Association. Thames, December 4.

An unprecedentedly heavy rainfall, accompanied, it is believed, by a waterspout, burst over the town, and continued to pour with extraordinary violence for several hours, the result being an almost univeral destruction of property, ’the creeks which under ordinary circumstances are quite common-place streams, t became changed into roaring torrents. The damage caused throughout the town was almost incalculable,' places of business and residences being inundated, gardens devastated, bridges carried out to sea or misplaced, and property ruined. The whole length of Pollen street was like a river, bearing with it tons of drift wood, rendering traffic impossible. The county main race has broken down in three places, and this will seriously interfere with the mining industry. The damage is estimated at several thousands of pounds. By Telegraph. —Special Correspondents. Napier, December 5.

The most disastrous and extensive flood ever witnessed in this province has just occurred. We have had continuous and heavy rain for days past, and on Sunday it was that the surrounding country was threatened with a serious visitation of water. Last night (Monday) it was known that the rivers and the lagoon were in flood/ and about 2 o’clock a cry for help came along the wires from Farndon, six miles off.

To this cry the Borough Inspector of Works and Sergeant Cullen responded, and Mr Garsten put on a special train to convey boats to the relief of the beleaguered people of the town of Clive. On reaching Clive it was found that the neighbouring and more low-lying towns of Meanee and Papakura were in great danger, the Tutaekuri River having broken its banks near the Mission Station. Later word came from Clive that a boy was drowned, that the water was rising rapidly, that people had had to take to the roofs of the houses, and that more boats were urgently needed. Boats were at once got ready, a special train despatched with them, and a rescuing party as far as the line was intact, about l.j miles from Clive. From this point they had to pull across the flooded paddocks towards the town.

The work of rescue was then proceeded with, and the people conveyed to higher ground, several being brought to Farndon Station, and thence conveyed to town. The people had to leave everything to save their lives.

Unhappily, three casualties have occurred. Mr Duncan Macfarlane, brother of Mrs Douglas McLean, of Maraekakaho, was swept down the stream last evening; a boy in Clive was drowned while trying to navigate a tub, and the Rev Mr Douglas, Presbyterian Minister, who was being driven along the Tai-adale road on a butcher’s cart, has also lost his life. The road being submerged, the cart got off the crown of the road, and capsized, and the furious current, setting towards the sea, swept Mr Douglas instantly out of reach. The damage done to the country is fearful. Crops and potato patches are irretrievably ruined, and houses have been desolated and goods damaged. Thousands of sheep have been destroyed, and hundreds of these animals were washed up along the beach this morning. A number of small holders are ruined, and it is generally felt that an appeal will have to be made on their behalf to the entire Colony. The scene is dreadful to contemplate, and the weather signs are by no means reassuring. At present the entire country is under water, and the lagoon threatens to overspread the lower part of the town. The damage along the railway line is very serious. The formation has been washed out in several places ; bridges have gone, and traffic has been entirely suspended. Mr Garstin and his staff have done all that could be done to meet the demands of the occasion, and great credit is due to the telegraph operators for their promptitude in communicating the urgent message from Clive to the proper authorities. But for this, I should probably have had to chronicle a serious loss of life.

Hastings is isolated, the bridges being down on both sides of the town. Napier has not yet suffered, but I think we have by no means done with the weather. I have just seen a party of eight rescued by boats at Clive and forwarded to Napier. They are all scantily clothed, and were •. clinging to the roofs of houses for many

Constable Rutledge has just returned from an ineffectual search in a boat (at great personal risk) for the body of the Rev Mr Douglas. He reports that the current was so strong that the body must have been washed out to sea.

Later. The police parties under Sergeant Cullen, Detective Kirby, and Constable Norwood, have returned to town after some terrible experiences. They had great difficulty in navigating the lagoon and the river, and when they arrived they found the town desolate. The report that had already reached town conveyed no idea of the real extent of the desolation. The people were sitting and clinging on the housetops, and something like a hundred of them had gained shelter at Smith’s Hotel, Farndon.

The police removed all who would leave, but many preferred remaining in their houses. Provisions were conveyed to these, and the others were brought to town. A late message informs me that at Maraekakaho two deaths by drowning hi.ve occurred, for beside Mr Macfarlane a man named John Clare, who was in search of employment, has lost his life. The damage done is at present incalculable, but judging from appearances I should say it will be long before Hawke’s Bay regains itself. An enormous quantity of live stock has been destroyed. Messrs Stoddart, Higgins and Robinson have lost terribly, and there has been an immense loss of goods and chattels.

The water is subsiding, but the appearance of things is very threatening. Too much praise cannot be given to the police for their prompt and efficient action, or to the Mayor and Captain Kraft, of the Spit, with his staff of boatmen.

There is always an amusing episode in occurrences of this sort. To-day a prominent, enthusiastic Prohibitionist, on foot, was unable to cross a swollen stream. While he stood, uncertain what to do, a cask rolled out of Swan’s brewery cart and floated. The Prohibitionist jumped astride of it and was borne to terra jirma. How he reconciles this with his anti-liquor professions remains to be seen, but any port is good in a storm. Hastings, December 5.

The wildest reports of the extent and effect of the floods continue to arrive hourly. Mrs Alley and a son of John Kelly, formerly of Hastings, have been drowned at Clive.

The Omahu Bridge is gone, and a great part of the Waipawa Railway Bridge is also gone, so that railway communication is entirely cut off. A rescue party went from here to try and assist the Clive settlers, many of whom are on the housetops, but could not get near.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Napier, December 5. The. most disastrous flood ever recorded in Hawke’s Bay occurred last night. The whole of the low-lying country between Napier and Ormondville, 63 miles, is more or less affected.

Very heavy rain commenced on Saturday evening and fell all Sunday and Monday to the south of Napier, but apparently the northern part of the country has been little affected, as the Taupo coach got through without difficulty. Yesterday the first intimation received at Napier of the damage was the news of two breaks in the permanent way of the railway near Te Aute.' It was expected that communication would be restored in a few hours, but all the rivers commenced to rise very rapidly, and the damage extended. The country is yet so under water that accurate details of the damage cannot be ascertained, but the large bridges at Waipawa and Waitangi are seriously damaged, and smaller bridges have been washed away, closing all railway communication between here and Ormondville. Most of the country bridges are also seriously damaged, but the postal authorities hope that one route may be left open for coach traffic. Telegraphic communication south of Waipukurait was interrupted about 9 o’clock, but it was then known that the floods were rising, and that immense losses of sheep had occurred. Still the settlers on the plains around Napier were not alarmed. Though there was a great deal of surface water lying about, no greater disaster than the loss of the potato crops and cut hay was feared; but after midnight the waters began to rise with phenomenal rapidity, and to cover the whole country. Messengers galloped into town for boats, and these saved many families. In some cases the water was so high that holes had to be cut through the roofs to rescue the inmates.

The large embankment erected by Nelson Brothers and a few other settlers at Clive some fourteen years ago, for the protection of their properties, broke, with the result that the thickly-stocked country was flooded deeply. The rain ceased this morning, and the water is rapidly subsiding. Roads were impassable this afternoon, and no accurate information as to the extent of the losses can be had yet.

Practically the whole of the crops of the Ahuriri Plains, and nearly all the stock, must have perished. Many settlers will be totally ruined. At Waipawa, the families in low-lying sections were rescued, but it was impossible to communicate with the houses in the river-bed, there being no boats. The Herald’s correspondent telegraphs this afternoon that the houses seem to be falling over, and it is feared that all the inhabitants are drowned.

East Clive, the lowest part of the plains around Napier, had not been visited by boats at four o’clock this afternoon, and it is feared there will be loss of life there. So far only three deaths have been ascertained. Mr Donald Macfarlane, brother-in-law of the manager of the Maraekakaho Station, and four settlers, were endeavouring to secure the Suspension Bridge, when

way to the shore, and two got on an island, where they were rescued by Maoris, but Macfarlane was drowned. The Rev S. Douglas, Presbyterian minister, wished to get to Taradale .and accepted a lift on a butcher’s cart. At the low part of the road the current was so strong that the cart was overturned, and Mr Douglas was swept away to sea. A boy at Clive, whose name is unknown, was also seen to drown. On the higher parts of the plains about Hastings the water is not so deep, and there is no current, but the drains are all backed up, and the whole country is under water. The rain threatens to return, and if it does so the disasters must be still greater. Clive and Meanee are nothing but one huge sheet of water. Hayfields, potatoes and crops in general all met the same fate, and farmers are now sailing about in boats.

At Meanee the scene is saddening and pitiable in the extreme. The residents there had an anxious time last night. People left their homes and sought the higher ground. The river bank gave way in five places at 9 o’clock last night, causing a perfect rush of water over the flat locality, Reports from Hastings state that five men were upon the Omahu Bridge, intending to place a lamp on it, but finding it shaking they leaped back just in time. The Mayor is taking steps to alleviate the immediate distress. , Later. Information as to the damage done by the floods comes through but slowly owing to the impassability of the roads along the line of telegraph. Though it has been fine for 10 hours, the waters have gone down very little. So far as can be ascertained, only Messrs Macfarlane and Douglas have lost their lives. The report as to the loss of a boy at Clive requires confirmation. When the boats reached East Clive, the residents were found better off than was expected, and. though some were perched on the roofs of houses, only one woman would leave in the boats.

At Waipawa all the residents in the threatened houses were rescued.

At Waipukurau one family were nearly drowned. Their house was carried bodily some distance down the stream. The family were seen on the roof making signals of distress, but nothing could be done for them, and they spent the night there. In the morning a boat was got, and they were all rescued, much exhausted. There will be very great distress, and the Herald has already opened a fund for the relief of settlers.

News has just come in that a young man named John Clare called at Birch’s Station, and inquired the way to Anderson’s. Soon afterwards he was seen in difficulties in the river and he rolled off his horse, not being seen any more.

SERIOUS DAMAGE AT THE THAMES. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Thames, December 5. Although it is yet impossible to give any idea-as to the full extent of the devastation caused by the floods last night, the loss sustained by the local bodies and private people is something considerable, and will amount to many thousands of pounds. Unless the Government aids the sufferers, it will be a long time before the Thames recovers from the blow. Nearly all the tradesmen in Pollen and Albert streets are heavy losers. The streets were covered with water and debris, Albert street being particularly noticeable in this respect, as a regular river flowed down the street towards the beach, and as the side streets contributed torrents of water, the whole of the business premises were inundated to the extent of several feet.

In the Queen’s and Provincial hotels and other buildings, the water was rushing through w iist deep; while in the Advertiser office the flood did great damage, the water being about 3ft deep on the floor. Indeed, so serious was the aspect of affairs about 8 o’clock that it became a very problematical matter whether the Advertiser would not be compelled to suspend publication for one issue at least, but the compositors stuck bravely to their work and succeeded in publishing as usual. The principal damage in the town was caused by the Karaka creek. A little after 6 p.m. the water rose with alarming rapidity, and several eye witnesses are emphatic in declaring that it rose five feet in five minutes. A perfect wave of water came down the creek at this moment, carrying huge logs and boulders in its course. In Pollen street, where the water caused such terrible devastation, the residents were in a shockingly bad state, and in two or three instances those living in the low-lying portions of the locality had to leave their homes and seek a change of residence until the storm had abated.

At Tararu, where the flood was equally severe, a house was stove in by logs and debris, which were carried down by the force of the torrent, and the occupants had to flee for their lives.

The scene this morning in Pollen street was one of utter desolation.

Three large breaks have occurred at the county water-race, and in consequence crushing operations at all batteries have been brought to a standstill. , It is expected that the Minister of Mines, who is at present at Coromandel, will visit the Thames before leaving for Wellington, and will consult with the local bodies, and see for himself the extent of the damage.