A TERRIBLE DELUGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23885, 12 August 1939, Page 14

A TERRIBLE DELUGE

PITCAIRN ISLAND VISITATION ENORMOUS DAMAGE WROUGHT A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, Aug. 11. The terrible deluge which burst upon Pitcairn Island a few months ago and wrought enormous damage there was described vividly by Mr F. McCoy, a descendant of the Bounty mutineer of that name, on arrival at Wellington to-day by the liner Arawa. He tcld how six inches of rain fell in less than four hours, washing away hill faces, plantations, orange groves, banana gardens and boatsheds. and threatening to destroy the half-dozen surfboats which constitute the islanders’ sole method of trafficking with visiting ships. After a night of terror the islanders toiled in mud and the downpour to drag their craft to safety. A rain squall burst over Pitcairn in the darkness of the early morning and from before 4 a.m. until after 7 a.m. the rain came down in a continuous tori-nt. Afterwards it ceased as suddenly as it had begun. From the top of the island a tremendous landslip swept down the western side of the island, 1100 feet from the summit to the sea. It carried with it timber trees of the forest, orange groves and banana plantations. An enormous mass of mud, vegetation, huge boulders and debris rumbled down the hillside and plunged into the sea at the western landing. The boat harbour, formerly more than three fathoms deep, was filled up and obliterated by the mud and boulders. The islanders were left with no satisfactory boat landing on that side of the island for use when the easterly winds make it the weather shore. At least a dozen bad landslips took place. Fortunately they were mostly on the side of the island away from the village. Although houses were flooded by rain none was damaged by the landslips or a loss of life would certainly hav.e resulted. While the deluge was at its height soon after daybreak the islanders hurried down to the Bounty Bay landing place to look to their surfboats. The craft are invaluable to them for fishing and for trading to passing ships, one of their principal means of livelihood. When they reached the bay they found that one of the boats had been stove in by hurtling boulders and had been washed into the sea. They were able to recover it and repair it in due course. None of the other boats was damaged, though the boatsheds were in some cases destroyed. The men were able to haul the boats to safety. All roads were blocked with mud and boulders, and it was a week before the men on the island could clear them. The damage done by the cloudburst would take years to make good. Thousands of feet of timber as well as valuable fruit trees had been destroyed. The food situation, however, was not serious. Mr McCoy said that the radio set presented to the islanders some time ago was a great boon to them. It had been working perfectly but at present the transmitter was up at Panama for attention. They still had the receiving apparatus and were temporarily transmitting with a home-made set which was used before the new set was given to them. The radio enabled them to communicate not only with the mainland of America but alsp with ships intending to call off the island. In this way they had been able to book passages on board the Arawa before her arrival at Pitcairn, and so knew she would have room for them.

Mr McCoy said that to a very large extent the islanders were dependent upon thier trade with ships passing the island en route between New Zealand and Panama. He said he himself acted as shipping agent for the islanders and intended to pay a three months’ visit to New Zealand. , , Six other Pitcairn Islanders arrived at Wellington by the Arawa.