THE DELUGE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLV, Issue 73, 14 March 1924, Page 3

THE DELUGE.

Widespread Damage to Roads and Bridges. Heavy Stock Losses. Minister Invited to Pay a Visit. (Own Correspondent). NAPIER, Last night. As the flood waters recede the damage done to roads and bridges becomes strikingly evident, and the Napier Borough Council and Hawke’s Bay County Council have weeks of restoration work ahead of them. The Taupo and Wairoa roads have, probably, suffered the most severely by and slips and both are absolutely closed to traffic. The damage is so widespread that the member for Napier, Mr Mcllvride, has wired the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. J. fi. Coates, asking him to visit the district with the object of giving some relief, by lending labor for the work of re-opening the roads. The Rissington bridge, which it is estimated will cost between £4OOO and £SOOO to replace, was swept away, and the Dartmoor road, which has been under construction for some months, was wiped right off the map. 1 It is still too early to estimate accurately the stock losses, but they will be heavy. In one case 1500 sheep were drowned, whilst the small dairy farmers on the Pakowhai flats all suffered losses of cows. The losses in the Esk Valley were also very severe. The body of the child Miller, buried in a slip in Shakespeare road, was recovered from the debris yesterday. There is no trace of the body of Hill, who was carried out to sea from Petane. DAMAGE AT WAIROA. (Per Press Association). WAIROA, This day. During'the height of the recent storm F. G. MacArdle’s residence at Whakamahia was struck by lightning, causing a chimney to collapse and fall through the roof. The whole house was deluged with rain and much damage done. Large numbers of dead stock have been brought. down the river- and strewn along the beach. Black’s empty store at Waikokopu was blown over.