LAST NIGHT'S RAIN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16372, 21 June 1927, Page 5

LAST NIGHT'S RAIN

RIVERS AND CREEKS SWOLLEN LITTLE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY The rivers and creeks throughout the Poverty Bay district were considerably swollen as a result of last night's heavy rain, and inundations were reported .from several parts of the district.. In the majority of cases, however, there *was little or no damage to property, ..and in a only were the paddocks and flats covered. The Waipaoa rifver rose to a considerable height during the night, and two settlers on the Bushmere roa<l suffered fairly severely from the Hood waters. Elsewhere the stop-banks were sufficient to hold the river in check, and at Repongaere and Batutahi. the only flooding was caused ! by the backwater from the Lavenham creek, which was responsible for the temporary inundation of between 70 and 100 acres of land. At Ngatapa the country was more flooded, the roads and practically the whole of the flat country being under water last night; this, morning, however, the water receded. :The railway service between Gisbornoand Motuhora suffered practically no delay this, morning, the line being in good order and free from slips throughout the whole of its length. A few minutes were lost at Hooper's cutting, where a small quantity of clay hafl descended on the line, but otherwise no delay was experienced, and the train arrived in Gisborne on time. : For. She second time this month over

So..- of rain has been recorded in Gisborne ;within 24 hours, 2.19 in. being registered for the period ended at 9 a.m. to-day, while on June 8 2.24 in. was recorded. Since early on Sunday evening no less than 3.54 in. has fallen in town, while in the country even heavier falls have been experienced. The rainfall for the month up to this morning has been 9.13 in.

The motor services experienced several interruptions to-day on account of the state of the roads both to the north, and between Gisborne and Napier. The nnmeialled portion of the road between Otoko and Matawai was in an unfit state for motoring this morning, and the service cars were transported to Motnhora by train. From Motu owvards the ro»d was reported this morning to be in good order, and it is understood that the cars were.able to proceed to Opotiki without any great difficulty. Car services between Napier and Gisborne were interrupted last night on account of the slip: which* came down in the Matahoura gorge, on the Napier side of Waikare. and the usnal night mail car from Napier was unable to get through. This morning the cars were run to the slip from the Napier and Wairoa sides, and the delay was thus reduced to the minimum. It was ■exnected that the slin Would be removed, and the road again cleared, by noon to-day; . On the Coast route the road was in erood order to-day as far as Tokomaru Bay. but north "of that township the swollen creeks ; made motor transport t impossible. The services plying on the 1 Coast, however, expect the road to be sufficiently imnroved to-morrow, providing ro fr-rther heavy rain is experienced, for the service between Tokomaru Bay and Ruatoria to be resumed.

WAIPAOA A BANKER . COUNTRY INUNDATED The flooded Waipaoa river wrought some damage at Waerenga-a-hika last night, breaking through the flood bank into Tietjen's cutting, and returning round the end of the cut into the bed followed by the river about a century . ago.' The low-Tying paddocks behind the properties of Messrs. Luttrell and D. I*. Cameron were completely inundated, but fortunately the flooding "was restricted to a comparatively small area, only about 30. or 40 acres being covered. Mr. Luttrell suffered severely, practically the whole of his land on the river side of the flood bank being covered, and . some of Mr. Cameron's property was affected in a like manner. The water rose to a height of about 4ft over the paddocks, and only the tops of the maize wiere visible, while in malting an inspection of the damage Mr.- Luttrell's horse had to wade shoulder-deep in the water. Mr. Luttrell spent an anxious night, fearing for the safety of his sheep, which weds grazing oh the low paddocks behind the flood bank. As the river continued to rise rapidly, Mr. Luttrell went out shortly after four o'clock this morning to move the sheep to safer ground. It was pitch dark at the-time, but fortunately be was able to save all but three of the sheep, although his dog was drowned in the work of moving the stock. At about 10.30 a-m. the flood at Mr. Luttrell's. property showed no. signs of .abating, but as it was reported from Te . Karaka that, the river was dropping considerably it was expected that the waters would recede at Waerenga-a-hika later in the' day. "During the night the river rose rapidly ,< in >tbe vicinity of Mr. Marshall's pro- • perty nearer Waerenga-a-hika, and early this morning had reached to the foot of the' flood bank there, covering the strip of land about ope chain wide between the \X# ood bank and the ordinary bank of the

By 4 a.m. the water had risen to a height'"of 2ft over the original bank, and two hoars later was washing the base of the stop-bank, but showed signs of receding at about 6.30. From 7 o'clock onwards the river abated with " more rapidity, and after 34 hours had dropped more tijan a foot; The water also rose to an abnormal height at the ford, but did hot show any sign of threatening the road when the rain eased off this morning. No other paddocks or land in the .Waerenga-adiika district were affected, hot it is considered that the flood would

have been a serious one had it not been t for the presence of the stop-bank, which prevented the water from, swecp'ng across the flats. . . , ■ NtJATAFA VALLEY FLOODED. - The whole of the low country in the Ngatapa Valley was inundated last night, the water varying in depth from 6in or flin to 3ft. The ereek was in high flood, and the water reached the maximum height at about ■ 11.30 last night, when .the road and flats were all covered. •At the store and the school the water .Was from: 6in to Bin deep, and at the railway station practically all the houses were surrounded, although the flood was riot responsible for any damage. The flood rose to the greatest height in the vicinity of Mrs. Dod's property, where in places the water was from 2ft to t r ft in depth; At 5.30 a.m. to-day, however, the water there had dropped to 18in, and continued to fall throughout the morning,, nntil only the lower paddocks were covered in places.- This morning the ■Arater left the roads, but these were in :.aryMTy : had state on account of the silt and debris. . At Repongaere the backwater from the - Jjayenham creek flooded about 50 a-res of the lower country, and at LavenMm i i abdut 25 acres were under-water. T«e ; (w^ban.k. was.sufficient to hold ib» Watte river in check, however, the bnlv gdiiig being caused ; by the backwater m jtlte creek.. No damajra has been ported from tjiat district.

NO DAMAGE DONE. On the nverbank on ttie I'atutahi -.ide th« settlers rose this morions t-o find the river encroaching upon the low lying paddocks along its course, and at 8 a.m. the water reached its highest level, just Japping the bottom of the stop-banks erected to control the Hood waters. A considerable amount of timber was brought down by the fresh, and thrifty settlers were salvaging firewood for the winter.

After 8 o'clock the river fell rapidly, and in an hour all danger of a more serious flood was past. .Small portions of the paddocks were isolated, but the stock had been removed, and no loss was reported. The Hood receded, as quickly as it rose, and at noon there was every prospect, that the river would have emptied itself in the course of a few hours. REPORT FROM OKMOND. The river rose from 12 to 15lt. at Ormond, but did not effect any damage. There was some Hooding on the lowland opposite Orraond, at what is known as "The Bend, 0 but no river water found its way into the dip in the main road near the township. NO DAMAGE REPORTED AT TE KARAKA.

At To Karaka last night the Waipaoa river rose to a love! considerably higher than it has boon since 1918, hut although the flood occasioned some alarm in the district jio damage has so far been reported. The flood was at the maximum at abcut 3 o'clock this morning, but thereafter the rain eased off somewhat, and by 7 a.m. the river had dropped about 4t't, although il was still abnormally high. In the 24 hours up to 8.30 a.m., 2.92 in. of rail, were recorded—almost T.in—while for the preceding 24 hours the rainfall totalled 80in.' A few of the low-lying paddocks were in undated, but otherwise the district escaped damage, and with the cessa* lion of the rain this morning the outlook was less formidable. In some parts the banks of the river suffered slightly from erosion, but this damage also was negligible. The men engaged in erecting the Tower Board's lints at Te Karaka had an unenviable experience last night. Their camp was situated on a low-lying piece of ground near the riverbank, and as the river continued to rise and threaten the camp, orders were given for the removal of the gear. In the middle of the night the men had -to turn cut of bed and shift the camp to a drier spot, and the lorry used for the erection of the poles was utilised to haul the gear to a safer situation. As it happened, however, the river did not rise sufficiently to flood the camp, but. the foreman had resolved to take no risks.

HIGHEST FOR YEARS WAIMATA RIVER IN FLOOD The Waimata river carried a bigger quantity of water last night than for some years, in the experience of those who dwell on the banks of the river. The continuous rain in the back country tilled the higher reaches of the stream,, and with the drainage of storm water from the hills nearer town and .the baekhig-up effect of the heavy seas, the level of the river mounted until it passed by over a foot that of tho most recent fresh, when much driftwood was lifted from the banks.

The rain which fell steadily throughout yesterday and the early hours or the evening gave rise to expectations of a high fresh in the rivers, and owners of pleasure craft on the Waimata took precautions against the loss of their boats. ""When the flood reached its height, at about 10.30 last night, the body of water was moving fast rind some erosion occurred at. the bends, Avhere silt deposits had been built up in the past. 'One pleasure loa.t at least was swept down the river, and catching in an accumulation of driftwood at the Gladstone road bridge, was shattered by the force of the water pressing behind it. There was not as much timber on the stream as was the caso a couple of weeks ago.

The banks of the Taruheru river were under vyater to a level well beyond that reached by any previous flood for years. This river is purely lidal except when surface water finds its wav into tho riverbed from Hexton and Waihirere, and there is a considerable capacity in tho bed, though it has been lessened in recent years by silting. At 10.30 o'clock last night, residents of Whataupoko who became alarmed for the safety of their riverside gear found the water well over tho breastworks, but running quietly arid without force. The premises of the two rowing clubs were invaded by water for the first time in years, the lower floor of the Gisborne Club's she 1 being covered to a depth of six to eight inches. Timber and repair geai floated about the floors, and as the ■rater receded, much of the timber was piled about the doors. There was some silt deposited about the clubhouses, though not to the extent noticed in connection with more* serious floods.

The effect of the fresh upon the harbor works cannot be judged until the subsidence of the sea now running makes soundings possible. There is evidence that during the high tide-last night the seas came unusually far beyond the high-water mark .of the beaches, but no great erosion took place near the mouth of the diversion, upon which so much attention has been directed during recent weeks. A quantity of driftwood found its way into the angle formed by the erosion of a few weeks ago, and helped to break the force of the seas that rolled i:' and ware deflected by the foreshore wall. The concrete work on the surface, above the western diversion wall, proved valuable in preventing the seas from scooping the sand from behind the wall, and so far as could be seen from a brief survey made this morning, ho damage was done to the work at any point.

WAIROA RIVER IN FLOOD NAPIER-WAIROA ROAD BLOCKED (Special to the Herald.) WAIROA, this day. After a very Wild night the weather is showing signs of clearing this morning. The river is in fairly high flood, a con siderable amount of driftwood pass'np out. to sea, but no .serious damage i> reported, , A few small slips are reported in various parts of the county, but a serious 6n< came down last night in the Mataboara (Jorge, about five miles on the Napiei skip of Wnikare, on the VVairoa-Napie road. Cars were prevented from getting ■through, but it was hoped to have the obstruction cleared by noon to-day. « The Tirivon cuttings, which are usually very bad during the winter months, were reported to be in good order this mornincr.: The county engineer, Mr. A. G. Fmitb, is at present out on the southern line making a further inspection.