SEA BEARS EVIDENCE

Taranaki Daily News, 25 February 1935, Page 9

SEA BEARS EVIDENCE

DEBRIS FROM THE RIVERS WARNING BROADCAST TO SHIPS LITTER STREWN ON BEACHES. HARVEST FOR WOOD GATHERERS. The sea yesterday bore evidence of the cloudbursts that drenched Taranaki. The Marine Department broadcast a warning to coastal shipping to keep a sharp look-out for Taranaki bridges that had been swept to sea. The waterfront, too, bears indelible marks of the flood. Earth, weed and foliage entangled with trunks and branches of trees demolished by the flood form a mass of debris about three feet deep along the beach at East End and Strandon. The groynes at East End seemed to have concentrated the driftwood in front of the pavilion as it is particularly heavy there. Until it is cleared away either by thrifty humans or another “act of God” the beach will be useless for bathing. On both aides of the mouth of the river trunks of trees three feet in diameter are buried, but men and, boys and women yesterday were busy sawing, chopping and carrying a winter supply of fuel to a dry level, where many a heap is awaiting collection. Most of the wood

is not the usual driftwood, rotten and useless, but is solid and contains a large proportion of rata, bearing testimony to the severe damage to the forest. Along the cliffs in front of Woolcombe Terrace.the.little, wood ashore is solid. One trunk measured easily 30 feet in length with a diameter of three to four feet, The main damage is the collapse of. the cliffs in front of Boon Bros.’ timber yards, where a slip 30 yards long by 10 yards wide has carried away a considerable portion of the property. It is here that a'few signs of-the bridges washed away are found, piles and planks being mingled with staves from beer barrels. Near the cliff at the foot of Eliot Street was a forlorn carcase of a sheep with its four legs stiffly pointing seawards. Bodies of large rats are also to be seen amongst the debris. The railway bridge over the Henui River has gathered in some heavy timber that is caught by the piles. Some large trunks up to 20 feet long are caught there. Although the flood has swept away the sand-bag dam in the river the current has scoured the pool deeper than it was previously. While the river water was comparatively clear the sea was muddy, and branches and trunks' were still bobbing in the waves.