THE FLOOD IN BLENHEIM.

Colonist, Volume XLI, Issue 9209, 28 June 1898, Page 2

THE FLOOD IN BLENHEIM.

SETTLERS RESCUED BY BOATS.

(From Saturday's "Express.") Twenty-four hours hours of intermittent rain from a south-easterly direction brought down a Taylor flood, and yesterday the streets of the town were under water. _ On Thursday afternoon a few stray predictions of a flood were heard, but in the evening the expectation became general, and prepreparations were made on all sides. The ! news spread that the Taylor was rushing down in a torrent, and the Omaka was seen to be surfeited with water, being bank high. Those tradesmen who had not shifted their goods from the ground floor in the afternoon set about this work in the evening, and insome of the larger shops lights were burning and the elevating process was being effected far into the night. The flood rose very rapidly, and two hours after its appearance in town several of the shops were visited by the aqueous element. Later on it reached an unusual height, and for the rest of the morning most of the principal streets were not negotiable on foot with the longest of gum boots, the water being waist high even in Market Place. At several points the depth was too great even for traps and horses, and many houses were approachable only by boats, many of which were in evidence throughout the day— in fact, this was the favorite means of conveyance. Sergeant Kiely and Constable Pnce, with others, went out in a boat on a rescuing expedition and conveyed several families to terra firma, the scene of their operations being principally in the direction of Grove Eoad, where the flood was especially deep. In one case a woman was found at ten o'clock in the morning standing on a table with the water up to her waist, and five children clinging to her. This experience was a most unpleasant one, and if a rescue had not been effected it might have had a fatal termination. Some people spent the greater part of the day in this rescuing work, one resident delivering several families.

In the northern part of the town, especially off Grove Boad, houses had the water in over the furniture, and few buildings in town, High street, Bedwood street, and adjoining roads, escaped the visitation. Many residences in Walter street and Maxwell Boad were also deluged. Considerable loss was suffered in the borough, a large quantity of stock-in-trade and furniture being damaged. The water was running through most of the shop windows, and in some cases it even reached goods that had been elevated in anticipation, so high did it become.

The town suffered more than the country, though a fairly big area of land is inundated. The Riverlands district was flooded, and also a large extent of land in the vicinity of the Middle and Old Eenwick roads, several farms there being affected. The damage dona in the country is reported to be not serious, consisting mostly of the washing out of a small amount of feed sown on agricultural land, the loss of a certain amount of live stock, and the spoiling of pasture. It is said that a number of horse?, which could not escape from their paddocks are among the animals drowned. Fortunately the flood cannot interfere to any extent with agricultural operations.