FLOODS IN THE SOUTH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 30

FLOODS IN THE SOUTH.

ONE MAN DROWNED. (Fbom Ova, Own Correspondent.)

Invrrcargilb, July 3. The express for the north was brought back to-night with the ordinary local train. It is still raining heavily. The Oreti river has not risen greatly, but towards Riverton a good deal of land is under water. A ballast train that went out to repair the break in the Dunedin line i« still hemmed in, the line .having been washed away in the rear. The time table is suspended.

July 4. A 8 a result of tbe heavy rains at the end of the week in the s^utb, a portion of the railway line about three-quarters t)f a mile in extent between Otikatama and Pnkeran was on Friday sub.merged. E*rly in the morning there was a depth of 4ft of wa r er on the line in two places, and later news was received that the line itself was washed out in several places. Ou arrival at Otikarama the south express came to a standstill, and passengers were transferred by means of trollies to Pakerau, and thence came on to Dunedin by the express which left here for the south, arriving about 12.4 p.m. Iv the same manner the passengers who left for the south by.the morning express were transferred to the express from Invercargill at Ocikarama, and

proceeded on their journey. The English and Australian mails which were on board the train from Invercargill were ttken b*ck, and

put on board the Talune at the Bluff. In order to cause a3 little inconvenience as possible, a special train left B «.l<-la' ha on Friday afternoon and o&me on to Dunedin, keeping express time.

The nsual morning train from Gore to B*lclutha had to be eliminated from the time table, while the train which was to have left Clinton from Gore on Friday morning could not be run.

At Waipahi the river rosa so rapidly that tha family who ocoupied the building formerly u««d as a hotel had to abandon the lower storey. Thoy were after war dB transferred by means of a rope and a chair to the railway statiou. July 5.

About tho most serious floods that have ever cccurred iv Southland were reported from al patts of the district yesterday. From Thurs-, day night to early yesterday evening it rained incessantly. »nd tho floods appear to have been caused more by the heavy fall of rain on the low country thau from 3aow washed from the mountains.

The damage done to the railways is unprecedented, and the floods in the Makarewa and Mai aura rivers are the highest remembered. The co-operative works on the Seaward Bush railway have -mfE-red severely. The- men's OAtnp is corapl.-.tely under water, but all cleared out before the flood water reached this spot.

There must be great loss of stock on the Mataura Island, and it is also reported th&t damage has been dose to the Southland Freezing Company and Mataura Paper Mills water races at; Mataura.

There ate Swveral breaches in the railway Hue bbtweeu East Gore and Pukerau. Tho mail* oame through from north of there on Friday, but no papers and neither mails nor passengers since. Ou the King*ton-luvercargill railway liße there are breaches at the Gap Road, Harrington's, C&roliue, and some other places.

On the western line th«.r<* are serious breaches abouh half a mile • » this Bide of Makai'ttwA and imuiidiately ou the other side, and what damage is done to the bridge across that river cannot yet be ascertained. There are other bad breaches at Waianiwa, Waimatuku, between Thornbury and Biverton, and Otautau

Trains at present can only prooeed about five mile 3 from luvercargill on the western and northern Hot:, and only as far as Gore easterly. and it must be several days before goods traffic is restored as formerly.

There is great loss of stock by drowniog on the banks of the Makarewa, and some very narrow escapes of loss of human life. Oue life has been lost. A man named Andrew- Anderson having been drowned while ctossing the Oreti river on horseback. Two men were perched in trees at Ryal Bush all last night, and when rescued by boat this morning they were in a very exhausted condition. The boat was taken up by the police by train. One of the men, it appears, had fallen from the tree in which he was perched, *nd was too exhausted ta get back again. Fortunately he was able to cling to a fence until rescued by the boat. The weather has been fiae and pleasant today, and reports at 9 a m. this morniog are :— Otaufcau— Aporima and Otautau rivers falling fast ; weather fine. Gmton— Matiura river moderately high ; weather still unsettled and raining.

Rivemdale— Mataura going down. Gore— Mataura and Waikaia rivers and Waikak* atieam down atveral feet this morniDg, and has ceased raining.

Mossburn— Weather showery-; Oreti rising, but not dangerous. Lumsden— Oreti rising, but still fairly low ; weather showery. Rain csased at 4 p.m. yesterday, and the rivera are falling rapidly. There is but little information froni the country as to danrngo It is expeoted that several bridges hay» been disorganised and the approaches washed out. No mails came through from the north yesterday.

The Railway department received intimation on Saturday morning that there was nob the slightest chance of getting passengers to Inver-ca-gi 1 ' thr-ongh ou Saturday. The express thtsrttli.Lv ra-\ ouly aa far as Pukerau. At Waipahi the water was within two or three inches of the floor of the station master's house.

Yt sWday telegrams were received to refnse all truffic south of Pukerau, but as the day was fine and the men at work on the railway a telegram was received that as the floods had gone down there was every probability that the department would be able to take passengers for Invercarjzill across the break -between Pukerau and Ovikarama on trollies. Passengers will therefore be booked this morning for Invsrcargili,

Oar Roxburgh correspondent telegraphed aft 2 p.m. on Saturdays— "The Benger born iff very high, and. the ooash is not through yet. Heavy rain has fallen during the last 2f hour*, with, deep snow .on the ranges." A Tapanui telegram dated Saturday *ay« :— 11 Heavy rain and a g\le from the S.W. were experienced yesterday. The train due at 2.16 p.m. yesterday with the mails arrived at 8 p.m. Most oreeks are overflowing their banks, bat the snow-fed rivers are not up muoh. Considerable damage has been done to the railways and roads. It is still raining heavily, and con' siderable damage to property and- loss of live stock nre feared."

The necessary repairs having been effected fib the Main South line, the traina were ableio run as usual on Monday, and ordiaary traffic will now be resumed.

A. Gore correspondent writes :—" A low aud fulling glass on Thursday last indicate^ some unpleasant proceedings on the part of fclw gentleman in charge of the weather, the -i opinion being that the mild winter wai abou* j> be varied by a heavy fait of snow ; but that the prophets were at fault was soon shown by * steady downpour of rain, which continued through the night and till Friday. The rapid rise in both the Waikaka and the Mataata made it evident that the fall had been heavy in the back country also, and on Friday evening the state of the rivers ' became & matter of general concern. The lower part of East Gore, near the junction, of the two rivcw, was oovered with* water, and Wallis's fellmongery and a cumber of private' buildings we-e cat off from all communication save by b'ott. The rain ceased for some hours on Friday night, bat commenced again early on Saturday, nt>o the Mataura river was rising rapidly. B.'nt* whre in request to bring people away from uohted houses and to rescue a few who had got on what had by this time become islands in the river. The new trafno.bridge, which is built a few chains above the railway bridge, is wit" ia a week or so of completion, and as the river ■ rose steadily great was the anr' / to Bee how it would oomo throigh mo trying ordeal. Between the conorete pier* on which it was built there were a number of temporary supporting wooden piers, and -many of these were carried aw&y ; not half a dozen of them, in fact, now remain. The fear was that the flood would reaoh the levol of the decking, and as that bus not yet beeu completely braced together, it seemed probable that the massive I top timbers would be carried away and hurled nith irresistible fore against the railway bridge IHow. About dark tur.re appeared to be only about 3ft of a gap between the decking and tho water, and the river still rifting. In the meantime, during the afternoon the water had been steadily pouting into the north end of Gore, at Juobitiwn, through the Wniraea railway embankment, and making ib-» way into the low lying parts of the t jwn. Th" livery stables opposite Riohardcon's Club Hotel were soon flooded to the depth of sf foot or so, aud the water proceeded to mike its way along by Bsllantine'a boot shop across the street to the back of the old Colonial B*Dk premises (now occupied by Mr Bonier) and Beattie'a store, behind the Bank of New Zealand. Theformation of Main street still confined the waters to the back- sectious,- and, after- cro'eing thn strpct ou, which is the side entrance to the b aik, ran into the eeotions at the biok of O'Kane's Hotel, rising almost' to the baok door of that building and taking possesiion of the little .low-lying cottage next door, which faces Brewer and Trembath's horse bazaar. The hotel and Mao* Gibbon's store at the corner opposite ''the post office are built well up to the level of the footpath, and wew consequently uninjured; bat the stables ooenpied by Mr littler, *hiah stand at the back of where the old Railway Hotel u»ed to be, were flooded, and Mr Jndor thought it prudent on Saturday n'ght to remove all his horses. Fortunately at nightfall tha river had begun to go down, but a great many people had been compelled to leave thoir houses and seik fibelter with friends or ia the hotelß. At thf lower end of the town the Chinamen, whosf gardens are near the river bunk, were quicklj fioo Jed out and all their land submerged. The; are the principal sufferers in this locality.

"It is Dot possible At present to make anj estimate of dumtge done. Mr Holland, th* contractor for the bridge, mast bo a considerable loser, but the majority of owners of house property affected will nuffar little morn than the inevitable inconvenience iuvolvod. When the water commenced to come through at Jacobttown it was pretty well known what direction it would take, and those likely to be reached raised all perishable articles well above floor level. It is fesr«d that many farmars io the Mataura V*lley have suffered considerably boh by lo^s of stock and injury to land, fences, kc. Old residents of Gore say that the flood of 1878 was higher than that of Saturday by IBm, but , Residents are perfectly satisfied with this last performance, which has served to show that a great many protective and drainage works demand prompt attention. ~ " The town is now fairly dry again 'and tU» weather fine and frosty."