Twenty-one railway workers and support staff were killed when a flash flood occurred on the Kōpuawhara Stream, near Māhia, in February 1938. The workers were building the Wairoa–Gisborne railway line and lived at a campsite above the stream. Torrential rainfall sent a 5-metre wall of water rushing down the stream, which burst its banks and swept away the campsite. This is the scene the next day.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library, C. A. Jeffery Collection
Reference:
1/2-60159; F
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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