AT KAIAPOI.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17037, 10 May 1923, Page 6

AT KAIAPOI.

FLOODS RECEDE RAPIDLY. Kaiapoi was thronged with Kight-*eer*s .yesterday, the damage caused by th« flood having aroused widspread interest throughout, the whole of North Canterbury. During the afternoon hundreds of motor-cars and vehioies of all description® arrived in the borough, and the visitors 6pen* an interesting time inspecting *the areas that had been effected. The beet view of the flood for those on foot was from the railway line north of the Main Road, and there was ata» a steady etream of. visiter* to the outskirts of tbe woollen mills. The receding of the flood waters yesterday enabled a number of the refugee* who had had to desert their home* the previous day to return and see the extent of tbe damage done, and in a few case* it was found possible to occupy the houses again. On Tuesday the full significance of the flood was not properly realised by many of the people who had. been compelled to leave their homes. They had accepted the position philosophically, without apparently paying much heed, to the subsequent losses they would have to bear, but yesterday there was a more serious tone noticeable. Visits of inspection to the floded houses, made by means of punts and drays, enabled the owners to .iudge fully the extent of tbe devastation. Valuable furniture was found to be utterly ruined, and the wallpapers completely destroyed, while everything was so sodden an to render it inadvisable to occupy the houses for a fairly considerable time. The full amount of the damage caused by the flood in Kaiapoi cannot be estimated, but it will be very considerable, and much of it will represent personal property which was almost priceless to the owners. In some cases the interiors of the houses escaped, but the gardens were totally destroyed. At Mr L. B. Evans's residence in. Fuller Street, a beautiful garden, which cost hundreds of pounds tr. make, i* now only a mass of debris, and almost all of the vegetable gardens in tb© affected areas have been similarly destroyed. The flood at Kaiapoi had thue© sources, and no precautions that could bare been taken by the Borough Council would have saved the town from flooding. On the couth aide of the railway line, tbe flood waters came from the Eyre River, which overflowed its banks at the Eyre bridge and came overland to Kaiapoi. Between the railway line and tbe north branch of the Waimakariri, the w ater broke through from tbe north branch at Mr N. Wilson’s property in Hilton Street, just above the Mafeking bridge, flooding practically the whole of the intervening country. On the north side of the north branch the. flood water came from the A*hlev and Cam "Rivers and the main drain,, there being a wide sheet of water from Fernside, where tbe Ashley broke through right up to Ranfurlv Street in Kaiapoi. It i« probable, however, that Kaiapoi would have escaped lightly if the Eyre and Ashley Rivers had not broken through, but- once they came down there was no possible chance of escape, and it is fortunate that the results were not more serious. Yesterday morning, when it became apparent that th© north branch was subsiding? rapidly, a cutting was. made ir the protecting bank on Raven Street, and the flood water on the south side, of the town was given a chance to get away. The water on the south side of the railway line got away through Dudlev’s drain and thence across the intervening property to the river. By 5 p m. yesterday, a great deal of the flood water had been cleared away, and itcis quite, likely that the bulk of that part of the borough will be cleared to-day. The position on the Cam side and in the basin between the woollen mills and Charles Street is more serious, as the land is lowlying. difficulties will probably be overcome by cutting a channel through to the river. Yesterday afternoon the water along Ranfurlv Street bad. fallen 2ft bin. and it was still receding.