Doing that extra bit

THE SOUTHLAND TIMES

A motorist stops at a roadblock manned by police officers and army personnel.

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1984 Floods

Flood of memories People felt pressured Your say: The 1984 floods If it's this bad now, what's still to come? Watching as your life washes away 'A town devastated' Never a Day Like It, and lived through Getting back to order after the floods All flights cancelled How prepared are you?

You do what you can for people.

Southland Electric Power Supply chief inspector Reg McLeod couldn't help notice the frustration and distress of one guy at an army road block.

The man's agitation was mounting as his attempts to get past the block and at least see his damaged Harvey St home were getting him nowhere.

"All he wanted to do was have a look around his house but he was turned down by the army and everyone else."

Himself weary from daylight-to-dusk workdays, Mr McLeod decided that this wouldn't do.

"I took my ID card off, put it on him, and he slipped through."

The delighted man, who was Maori, returned the card to him.

"Never been mistaken for a Pakeha before," he smiled.

Other, shall we say, ancillary help was provided by the inspectors.

The father of a bride had been firmly told he would be arrested for looting if he went into the flooded home of her dressmaker to retrieve her dress.

Again, SEPS personnel stepped in actually, more like waded in found the box at the top of a wardrobe, and there were tears on the phone when the bride got the news that it was dry. The good news was trebled when she opened it there were dresses for three weddings in there.

The inspectors also came bearing gifts for critters.

"We fed goldfish, cats and dogs took tucker with us," Mr McLeod recalls.

Post-flood inspections could feel invasive at times and the inspectors did try to be sensitive, although sometimes they were caught aback.

One family had refused to let inspectors in, relenting only when they were told they'd get no power until they did.

The inspector emerged, pale. What had, from the window, appeared to be a flood-ravaged home turned out to be, on closer inspection, one of uncommon everyday mess.

Water in that quantity did weird things to household objects. Some electricity meters filled with water, boiled dry, and their dials melted.

Some toilets heroically tried to flush away the entire flood, and the suction effect collected many a floatable object. Like goldfish bowls.

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