DAMAGE BY RAIN.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4978, 30 May 1903, Page 5

DAMAGE BY RAIN.

PRESS ASSOCIATION. STRATFORD,, May 20. Great damage lias .been done to tho roads in the eastern portion of Stratford county. ■ At ',4.30 on Thursday morning light- ' ning struck the house of a man named v Lefofsky, separating one portion from the other. The -man and his wife and child wove sleeping in one of tho severed portions.' Shortly after a landslip swept r ■ away the portion of the houso which was untouched by tho lightning, carrying it.'j a- considerable distance from its original 1 position. The occupants wore not hurt. The rain in the district is the heaviest known for years. Considerable damage has been done to the borough streets. i BLTHAM, May 29. The heavy rains have caused considerable damage in the Mangamingi district, the road being washed away and communication interrupted. Cowsheds and fences hare been blown down. INGLEWOOD. May 29. Consequent on tho late downpour of rain heavy slips have occurred on the Tiiifdth zigzag, entirely cutting off all places to the north-east of Kaimata. The daily mails are carried on foot over some miles, but all. other traffic is suspended. During the late electrical storm all tho telephone lightning guards fused,, , hut no serious damage was done. Around tho Tarata district the roads suffered extensively, being in some cases completely Washed «way fftf chains. Some farms have sintered considerable damage by landslips. ’ NELSON, May 29. Heavy rain, totalling nearly four inches for tho week, has fallen almost continuously during the last five days. The rivers in the district are very high, and considerable dama'SO lias been done to twd bridges and to the road. DUNEDIN. May 29. Floods have washed away a quarter of a mile of railway formation near Clarksville. Neither the main nor the branch train was able to get through so far. ■ ' . Rain has been exceptionally heavy in ■ the Tuapoka district-. In Lawrence the channels proved inadequate to carry away the water, and several business places had their stock damaged by it. In some of the buildings the water rose to such a height that the fireboß was rung for assistance .to remove tho inmates. Tho railway was slightly damaged. Later. Tho flood in the Tokomairiri river today was the heaviest since 1892, and a good deal of damage was done. The north branch overflowed, and spread over the farms. At Milburn one farmer had fifty sheep drowned, and there is water around many stacks. Tho water spread over the farms between Milton and Clarksville. The express got through in the morning, but the train from Invercargill was blocked, and the passengers had to be conveyed from Clarksville to Milton by ’vehicle. It is not known yet whether traffic can be got through tomorrow.