WADING TO WORK.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16114, 1 May 1923, Page 9

WADING TO WORK.

A motor ear churning up the waves of Bay View road might have been a paddle steamer from n distance, and :i boat, tethered to a telegraph post in Royal iiesent. increased the exotic appeaianee of that prospect (states the Dnnedin Star, referring In the recrnl flood.) Not many Of the breadwinners of the most'submerged p"art.s of this area got into town to work till the afternoon. When they made their journey to what had became the mainland, the usual procedure was to wade, perhaps for half a mile, carrying in a bag ;i change of raiment, which could be donned at the works or officp. I'.tn this meant 100 much to carry for a considerable number, and men ami women alilce could he seen yesterday afternoon returning in or sallying from their island, homes barelegged and barefooted, except for boots. Children enjoyed the novel, amphibious conditions to the full. 'lvor large areas, where the water did not actually invade many houses, it required only In rise three or four inches to do so. Scores of families were kept, therefore, in a lively suspense, and were not sine when they turned into i heir beds at. night, that they would not step out of them into water next, morning. Those only were free from misgivings who had made an early evacuation of their dwellings, and in one not inconsiderable street in Musselburgh every house was deserted.

The Otngo Daily Times states:—There is no diversity of opinion about the seriousness of (lie flood which was experienced in Dunedin yesterday, and the effects of which tire still very much in evidence, in the south end especially. In the opinion of those who have lived many years in Dunedin, there has never been such a steady, persistent rain as thai which fell all day on Sundahy and on Monday morning till about 9 o'clock. All night on Sunday people anxiously watched the water rise in their houses till they realised that they were hoping against hope, and that it was time for them to leave their homes. Some, indeed, had had to depart with a few small belongings on Sunday afternoon, and others were forced lo leave next morning. The "rain swept in practically straight from the sen. and there were no lulls. An enormous amount of damage has been done in the city and suburbs. Business houses have had their cellars flooded, householders have had their furniture ruined and their houses damaged, and the City Corporation will have to bear a. very heavy expense to put the roads in order again. There was one very fortunate circumstance in the dire visitation. The rain ceased to fall in any quantity on Monday morning at about 8 o'clock. Had it not done so the city must have suffered something in the nature of a calamity.