Water Water, Everywhere - New Plymouth's great flood of 1935

Floods had flashed through Taranaki in the past but the summer flood of 1935 was a biggie. The rain broke the drought and the rushing waters broke anything that wasn't tied down.

Read all about it in this week's story.

Rewind to the 1930s

What happened during this decade? Check out the events below and decide whether they are true or false.

1. People can have their letters delivered by air mail for the first time.
2. James Wattie the baked bean man begins his cannery business.
3. World War two ends.
4. Jean Batten makes the first solo flight from England to New Zealand.
5. There's a free bottle of milk for school children every morning at playtime.

Answers at the bottom of the page

Word watch

All the words below are in this week's story. Choose the best meaning and then check your answers when you read the story.

1. deluge (a) torrent or (b) wave
2. over-laden (a) very deep or (b) over full
3. spring tide (a) a very high tide or (b) sea water that rises because of the rain.
4. merchandise (a) rubbish or (b) goods
5. flotsam (a) floating wreckage or (b) floating rubbish
6. salvage (a) rescue or (b) loot
7. forlornly(a) pitifully or (b) at random determination or (b) physical skills
8. receded (a) became cleaner or (b) drained away
9. bazaar (a) an outside market place or (b) a big laundry
10. gutted (a) saddened or (b) completely emptied out

Answers at the bottom of the page

Summer Floods

The great floods of February 2004 were summer floods just like the one you will read about today and these storms can be worse than winter ones. They happen when air and seas are at their warmest and that creates a more potent storm.

Look here  to find out about the 2004 floods and the effect they had on each of the following:

1. people
2. farms
3. transport services
4. other essential services  

Answers at the bottom of the page
 

Old flood, same effect?

Read the first part of this week's story down to "New Plymouth under water."

Are the effects the same as they were in 2004? Pair up with a classmate and work out some things that would have changed in the telecommunications area.

Answers at the bottom of the page

Where's what?

New Plymouth's central shopping area in 1935 was similar to today's one. The shops were in Devon Street but there was no Centre City at the end of Currie Street. Across the road from where Puke Ariki now stands was the railway shunting yards. The Huatoki River was there of course. Roads, shops and offices were built above it just like they are today.

The street, where everyone gets a bargain

Read "New Plymouth under water," and find out how some shops lost everything. All they had left was bare boards!

The story tells us that business owners had no warning and were unable to move their stock to safety. Some shops though would have been better off than others. Rank the ones below in a "havoc order". The shops at the top of your list would suffer a lot less than the ones at the bottom.

1. A hardware shop
2. A jewellery shop
3. Tearooms (a café)
4. A clothes shop
5. A tobacconist ( They sold cigarettes, pipes, tobacco and matches)
6. A bookshop
7. An electrical appliance shop
8. A paint shop 

Put it high?

The story also tells us. "…others rushed to help their elderly neighbours and put furniture above the waterline."

What would you put up high if a flood threatened your home today? Make list of the top 10 things to save. Then, go through your list and tick the items that that you think would have been in a 1935 house.

Check here when you have done that and find out if those things that you would put up high today, were even invented in 1935.

Saved!

Read "Floating cows and a wet puppy."

What if you were a reporter for The Taranaki Daily News in 1935?  So far you have a picture about the dramatic dog rescue- that's it above.

Now jot down the questions that you could ask this woman when you interview her. You'll need the when, what, where and who questions but the really interesting ones will be the how and why ones.

Pair up with a classmate when you have your questions. Interview each other.

Lassoo that cow!

The cow in the cartoon doesn't look too well but the story tells us all five cows were rescued from the raging Waiwakaiho River.

Print out the cartoon and write the speech bubbles or a caption to go with it.

Call the ambulance!

Two men had a lucky escape when an approach to a bridge collapsed just as their car reached it.

Write the headline for this Taranaki Daily News story. Grab the attention of your readers by making your headline as dramatic as the story was.

Car for sale

It is one week later. The two men have hauled their car out of the river and they decide to sell it. Write the advertisement they may have put in the Taranaki Daily News. (It's quite a famous car by now remember.)

Flood fun

Read "Flood fun" and find out how the life savers from the Lyall Bay Surf Club made the most of their stay in rain soaked New Plymouth.

Imagine taking a craft from today back in time to the great flood of 1935. What would you use to zip around New Plymouth's flooded streets in or on?

I'll save you!

Some life savers "conducted 'thrilling rescues' of the fairer sex in the middle of Devon Street". Perhaps their friends later heard some tall tales about these thrilling rescues. Team up with classmate so that one of you is the rescuer and one is the girl being rescued.

Finish one of the tall tales below and then tell it to your partner.

Tall story 1 There I was, standing on the balcony of the Royal Hotel when I heard a cry from way below. "Help me, help me I'm drowning!"  I am a strong swimmer as everyone knows and although I had already saved the lives of five people and a cat that morning I leapt up onto the balcony rail and...

 

Tall story 2 Just as I stepped off the footpath to get a better look at the diving competition a great wall of water crashed down and swept me into the swirling storm water drain. I went right under and tumbled off down Devon Street end over end. A floating can of pink paint glanced off my forehead and through a blurred haze, as I struggled to stay afloat; I saw a bronzed lifesaver diving through the air like a swan...

Flood sale!

Finish the story now and find out more about the damage this flood caused.

Some people may have been happy about their flood damaged bargains but this flood was an absolute disaster for many people. Homes were damaged and farmland was wrecked.

The 1935 flood wasn't Taranaki's first or last big flood. Look here and decide how prepared you are for a flood. Rate yourself according to the scale below.

1. Absolutely ready. There would be limited  damage to my home and I would be safe.
2. Quite prepared. Damage to my home is quite possible but I would be safe.
3. Could do more.

Fast forward

These days we call the Huatoki a stream but in 1935 it became a raging river. This week's story showed it caused a lot of damage and it still flows under buildings and roads today.

It has been that way since New Plymouth's settlers arrived from Britain in the 1840s. Bridges, shops and roads were built over it and earth works straightened and diverted it.

Now there are plans to open up the Huatoki and turn the drain into the stream it once was. Right now it is home to big eels, water rats, bottles and cans can but changes are on the way. What has been damp, dingy and dark for more than a century could soon be a walkway along grassy banks and a sparkling stream.

A big building sits over the Huatoki but the council has plans to demolish that and create a riverside plaza. Plans are due out soon but what should a riverside plaza have?

Look here and scroll down to page 3. It gives you some idea of a landscape design. Sketch a riverside plaza design of your own. Plants and pathways are needed but what else would turn the Huatoki into something worth visiting?

Answers

Rewind

1. True. Air mail began in 1935, the same year of Taranaki's great flood.
2. True Mr Wattie also began his canneries in 1935.
3. False. World War two began in 1939. It didn't end until 1945.
4. True. That happened in 1936.
5. True. Free milk in schools began in 1937.

Word Watch

1a, 2b, 3a, 4b, 5a, 6a, 7a, 8b, 9a, 10b

Summer Floods

1.  Hundreds had to evacuated from their homes
2. Sheep and cattle were lost and farm land was flooded and covered with silt.
3. Transport services-roads bridges and railway lines were washed away.
4. Telecommunications, power and gas and water supplies were affected. 

Old flood same effect?

Telecommunications were a lot more basic in 1935. New Zealand didn't have its first international phone call until 1930 but by 1935 there were phone lines into people's houses. That's all they had though. There were no faxes, email, internet or mobile phones so businesses didn't have to wait until the internet came back on to start work again.