NEW ZEALAND DISASTERS AND TRAGEDIES
PAPAROA FLOOD, PAPAROA< KAIPARA
SATURDAY 27 MARCH 1920

Thanks to Papers Past

27 March 1920

The thunderstorm at Paparoa caused the highest flood known for 57 years. The river flats are completely inundated and several houses are surrounded. Much damage has been caused to roads, bridges and private property. There is anxiety for the safety of the railway workers camped close to the stream up the valley.

29 March 1920

With reference to the Paparoa floods, Matthews was awakened at 4 a.m. by-the water, which reached the beds in which he, his wife, and family slept. He swam ashore with a baby, and returned and placed the others on the roof of the building, but the flood swept the cottage away. Matthews rescued another child. The mother and three children were swept away, and their dead bodies were recovered later.
Pearce, a resident of Paparoa, was seen swimming, and his dead body was recovered later. One man was rescued from a tree after six hours. A woman, in night attire, was rescued from a tree, with her infant. It is reported that a motor car fell through the gap in the bridge at Waipu Gorge. The car was wrecked, and the body of one of its occupants, a returned soldier, was found later [later disproved]. The fate of the other occupants is unknown. At the Sutherland boarding-house women refuged in the attic. The water rose three feet above the floor and then subsided. Considerable damage to road construction works was caused throughout the district.

01 Apr 1920

At the inquest on the victims of the Paparoa flood, John Matthews, a labourer in the employ of the Public Works Department, deposed to the death of his wife and three children, their ages being:

In describing his experiences Matthews said that he swam with the youngest child to a bank. Ihe flood waters had risen to the top wire of the fence. He lost some time in getting over the fence. On returning to his home the fence was quite under water. His wife handed the baby to him out of a window, and he carried it to a bank. By this time the stream was very strong, and he had to go two chains up the bank from there and then swim down to the house. Owing to the strength of the current he missed the first corner of the dwelling, but he managed to the other corner as he was swept along. He worked his way round the house, and found that the water was half way up the window.
His wife was in a fainting condition, and he had to get into the room where she was through the window to help her, thereby losing more time. About ten minutes afterwards he and his wife and four children reached the roof. The house was washed away and all were thrown into the river. He held the child nearest, Ada, and he thought that Winnie caught hold of him. He then sank, and on coming to the surface he managed to swim to the bank with Ada; Winnie was then floating on the water out of his reach.

One witness deposed that the deceased man, William Pearce, was sixty years of age, and came from Brighton, England. For six or seven years prior to going to Paparoa he worked at Kaukapakapa as a gum digger, and was last soon swimming down stream towards the embankment. The Coroner returned a verdict that deceased were drowned consequent on the flood that swept the valley, which was caused by very excessive rain.