HEAVY FLOODS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Colonist, Volume XII, Issue 1160, 6 November 1868, Page 6

HEAVY FLOODS IN NEW ZEALAND.

LOSS OF LIFE AND GREAT DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY.

NELSON PROVINCE. MotueKa, October 22. There lias been a very serious flood in the Motueka river, bo high, it is said, that it exceeds any flood experienced in the district. Tho rain was constant for some thirty hours, and previously there had been a good deal of snow gathered on the Mount Arthur range. The rait) and the unusual warmth had melted this snow more quickly than in ordinary seasons, and this had swelled the river Wungapeka, which falls into the Motueka at the lower end of Upper Motueka Valley 5 the Baton also, which joins the Motueka some miles further down, is, like the Wangapeka, a swift and rapidly rising river, fed by the snowy ranges. The waters near Motueka rose to a great height, and swept through a portion of the ground belonging to Captain Wright, and one of his fields has been covered with aand and debris to the height of some two or three feet. The water was under the house of Major G-ascoigne ; and at one part one unfortunate settler who lived alone had to spend the night on the roof of his house, in winch the waters had ri?en to the height of five feet. Dead bodies of horses mid cattle were washed down the river, and f'-om this we fear that settlers on the banks of these rivers may have suffered considerable loss. In the Motueka the flood was higher by from eighteen inches to two feet than was ever before known in tho expe.ience oi the white settlers. Riwaea, October 19. There was an unusually heavy flood here last week> the consequences of which have been far more disastrous than those of the earthquake. ME BUI/LEB. The Westport Evening Star of Wednesday, Oct' It, s'tys :—'"The heaviest flood which has occurred in tlio Bullet* since the town was established, commenced yesterday, and this morning apparently attained its height. It is net only the heaviest flood which has occurred, but it is also the most destructive. Its height \\m morj than a foot above the laat great flood which happened in January laat, and the amount of public property which has been destroyed much greater. Only one of tho wharves has been absolutely earned away, but another has b' en placed in a very precarious position, and there bus generally been on amount of damage done to the river protection works, which it is impossible, just at present, fully to realise. There can, however, be little doubt that the outlay and labor of a year have, to a great extent, been rendered valueless, and there is as little doubt that this loss of money and wcrk is due, not alone to the flood, but to the dilatory and contemptible peddling manner in which the execution of tho works now destroyed has been carried

on. One immediate cause of the flood was a heavy rainfall; another, and the primary cause, is, no doubt, the circumstance that the wind accompanying the rain was a nor'easter, and the fuefc that theso winds are characterised by a high temperature —such a temperature as would have a very rapid influence upon the winter deposits of snow upon the highest ranges in the interior. The fresh thus caused commenced to altain the dimensions of a flood about noon yesterday. Apart from the weather signs, the quantity of dead timber which was being brought down by the stream indicated that the river had already considerably overspread its banks in tho back country, and before sunset the captains and watermen made their craft secure, nnd the morning proved that the precautions had not been taken without good reason. The river, this morning, had attained a height so great, and was throwing such a body of water towards the north or Westport bank, that some damage either to bank or works seemo 1 to be cerain. The first point of pressure was at Cobden-street., where a wharf has recently been constructed, and from whio an incomplete row of piles extended nearly <o the Lyttelton-strcet wharf. The whirf, withstood the force of the stream, but tho piles vibrated and bent in all directions until they 1 >oked a very sorry spectacle. The wharf below them (called the Upper or Lyttelton-strcet wharf) was of more importance, for it was a very useful one, at which the sailing vessels from Melbourne and Dunedin, as well as the eoasliug steamers are irost frequently discharged. About four o'clock in the morning this wharf gave decided signs of weakness, and soon after, they became nlurmiug j piles, which at fiiMt creaked, cracked ; bolts broke ; and there was such an increasing deposition on the part of the whole structure to betiike itself to the sea that Captain Leech thought it. right to rouse the District Engineer. Mr. Lowe appealed on the scene with promptness, but the wharf was still more expeditious in its disappearance, for by the titriH he had arrived it had departed. Some of if hiid subside I into the stream, the rest was 'outward bound,' and very soon the brigatine Ceres was floating, a* she now floats, where the wharf used to stand. The Gladstone-street wharf is perfectly insulated, the street haTitig been cut away to a breadth of severul yards, an 1 from the way in which it and the weir above vibrate with the force of tho stream, it; is apparent that it is only a wreck the presence of which in the place it stands is duo solely to the anchor and chains to which it wns made fa9t. A wooden building, formerly used as the Custom-house was washed down, and in order to save the G-ladstone-street wharf, it was broken up and removed. The Stanley wharf withstood the flood, and does not seem to be in any way damaged. In the township of Westport itself the flood has been the cause of no inconvenience whatever. The water mn flush with the bank, but, it did not intrude into the town, tho greater part of which is situated on a sufficient elevation to be free from such a contingency. A dead body was discovered on the south side of the river, and it was supposed to be the body of a man naired 'Austrian Jack,' who was drowned by the upsetting of a canoe about a fortnight or three weeks ago, on some dangerous falls." A -Pole, known by the name of George Brown, a hawker of vegetables, &c., has been missing ever since the night of the flood. When last soon, he was in a state of intoxication, and it is conjectured that he fell into the river and was swept away.

A galo and a flood occurred in the Buller river on Thursday, October 15. The river encroached more seriously upon its northern bank, large slices of which were carried away. Twenty-four hogsheads of beer and tho result of an excellent " brew" were lost by the water making a olean breach through the cellar of the Westport Brewery. Tho work of the brewery will be interrupted for some weeks, thus causing a serious loss to the proprietor, Mr. David Leslie. The Stanley wharf was strained and otherwise damaged.