SURGE SUBSIDING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19617, 27 April 1938, Page 4

SURGE SUBSIDING

TRAIL OF SILT LANDS OF HAWKE’S BAY SCENE OF DEVASTATION HOAD CONTACTS MADE SERIOUS STOCK LOSSES (Per Press Association.) NAPIER, this day. The weather was clearing last night and the worst of the flood appeared to be over. One road to the south was open yesterday afternoon, and water was subsiding. The rain ceased yesterday afternoon in the back country. The loss of stock in the Clive area is set down at 1500 to 2000 sheep. The water yesterday was receding rapidly there as in most districts. Up till 9 a.in. yesterday the total rainfall from and including Saturday was 10.80 in„ making a total for the month of 13.95 in., the highest since 1891, beyond which there are no records. At Riverslea. between Bay View and Eskdale, the railway station has disappeared. It stood on an embankment several feet higher than the road. Market Gardens Covered The stock losses in Eskdale are reported to be very heavy and all market gardens are covered with silt. An outstanding result of the flood is the success of the Tutaekuri River control scheme, which has been completed. A scheme to control the Ngaruroro had hardly been commenced, and from this course most danger came in the country south of Napier. Owing to the collapse of part of the traffic bridge over the Tutaekuri at Watangi, all road traffic was held up, but it was planned to use a detour of 10 miles via Fernhill. The railway bridge alongside the traffic bridge has been twisted sufficiently to compel the department to cancel all train arrangements north of Hastings for the time being. At Clive during the height of the flood there was sft. of water in the largest part of the township. The overflow backed up until it reached Whakatu, four miles to the south. Residents of Clive took refuge in the town hall. River Changes Course Napier, apart from surface water and a few slips on the hills, is free of flood damage, but was completely isolated. At Bay View there was much water and the Esk River, instead of flowing to the sea at its usual mouth, took its old course and flooded 7000 acres of land reclaimed from the inner harbour by the ’quake of 1931. This water, however, will soon get away with the cessation of the rain. Devastation exists at Eskdale, where the flood was reported to be the heaviest in living memory. Some of the railway houses there were almost completely, submerged and there is sft, of silt in the railway station yard.

The whole valley was inundated, and many people were rescued by police and volunteers in boats. Every bridge in the district is reported to be washed away.

The road to Taupo will not be open for some days. The road to Wairoa is reported to be in a deplorable condition, even telephone wires being down. The whole countryside was dotted with slips of all sizes due to the excessive water getting into earthquake cracks.

DEMOLISHED BRIDGE

MURIWAI STRUCTURE R ECON STR UCTION WORK (Herald Correspondent.) Reconstruction work has been commenced at the site of the demolished bridge on the main highway near Mr. R. K. Murphy's homestead at the southern end of Muriwai. A gang of men is employed clearing the silt from the northern approach to the bridge and widening the approach to allow of an easier access to the bridge. The temporary sill which was placed here after the 'last flood was washed away so that it will be necessary for the safety of the structure to drive more piles on this side. It has been necessary also to alter the alignment of the telegraph wires at the bridge site. The poles carrying the wires have had to be moved some yards back from the present temporary roadway to allow the pile-driving derrick to be used. Pedestrian communication was restored on Monday, when two logs were dragged into position spanning the gap from the northern bank of the stream to the existing portion of the bridge on the southern bank. Some days must elapse before the structure is completed and in the meantime travellers and residents beyond this place are seriously inconvenienced. Some twenty motor cars are parked in the grounds of Mr. Blumsky’s residence, the owners having to leave them and proceed to the Kopua district by whatever conveyance is available from the southern bank. A great spirit of camaraderie is evident and no one who asks is refused n ride, but the usual thing is that drivers ask pedestrians to accompany them.

Bread and other food supplies from Gisborne are being conveyed to Bartletts and the railway camps from this point by trucks, which pick up the supplies after they have been carried across the present footbridge.