SEA OF SILT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 100, 30 April 1938, Page 9

SEA OF SILT

HAWKE'S BAY LOSSES

FARM LANDS DESTROYED MUD AND WRECKAGE IN ESK VALLEY [ Psr Preu Association. j NAPIER, April 29. A tour of inspection through the Esk Valley yesterday revealed conditions unprecedented in l.le history of the district and fully as bad as reported earlier in the week. The whole valley is a sea of silt and wreckage. The floodwaters have receded, leaving silt over everything, varying in depth from 2ft. to 12ft. Photographs taken yesterday show a man t u pping off silt on to the roof cf a house. Another shows mud and wreckage hiding a whole residence up to the eaves.

The main road, which was recently resurfaced with bitumen, is completely covered under feet of silt. At one point it is almost possible to reach up and touch the telephone wires. Fence lines have disappeared, and the whole scene is one of utter desolation. It will be months before direct road communication with the north is restored. Removal of the silt from the larm lands is out of the question and farmers will have to start again on Uia surface of the heavy silt deposit. Victim of Flood. Investigations made at Hastings show that the victim of the Hood at Tangoio was Mr. Hugh Douglas .McIntosh, not Mr. Edward Macintosh, as previously reported. Mr. Mclntosh lived alone at Tangoio and, when overtaken by the flood, he climbed on to a table, his two dogs accompany|ig him. With the further rise of the waters Mr. Mclntosh climbed through to the rafters, where he was found by neighbours in the last stages of exhaustion. He died a few hours later. Owing I a the impossibility of removing the body because of the great depth of silt, hl was buried in the vicinity of his home. Mr. Mclntosh was 57 years old and was a brother of Mr. D. M. Mclntosh, Hastings. He served in the Great War for four years, being a member of the Fifth Reinforcements. He had been in ill-health for some time and had been undergoing treatment at a hospital. He left the institution for a few dayf and was expected to return for further treatment.