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68
As to the dates of the floods referred to, and their cause, I have
received the following statement from the Engineer to the Lee
Conservancy Board:—"The valley (Lee) commenced to be flooded
on 16th January last, and the flood reached the maximum on the
19th and 20th. The flood was due primarily to a heavy fall of
snow which followed a sharp frost over the Lee Valley and this was
succeeded on 16th January by a considerable rise in the temperature
and a fall of 0.26 inch of warm rain, whilst the snow when
melted registered 1.04 inch of rain. The combined effect of rain
and rise in the temperature was to cause a rapid thaw and a heavy
flood. The valley was again subject to flood for several days in
April, the flood being at its highest on the 18th. This flood was
caused by snow melting on the hills, coupled with warm rain,
1.54 inch falling in three consecutive days."
The premises affected in January were as follows, viz.:—
Retreat Place, Nos. 1 to 8, consecutive numbers; Spring Lane,
Nos. 4 to 16, even numbers; Spring Lane, Nos. 38 to 64, even
numbers; Middlesex Wharf, Nos. 20 to 42, even numbers;
Middlesex Wharf, Nos. 57 to 91, odd numbers.
In January, the ground floors of the above cottages were
flooded to a depth varying from an inch or less, to 2½ feet; in April
to a maximum depth of not more than 2 feet. The result of these
floods is not only to leave a deposit of filth in the houses but to
render the living rooms so damp that it takes months for the walls
to dry out; and the repetition of a flood within four months means
that practically for a period of at least six to eight months, or
longer, these houses are so damp as to be, in my opinion, so prejudicial
to health as to be unfit for habitation. Hitherto the floods
have recurred infrequently, at most, once a year; but two floods
within a little more than four months arouses the suspicion that
they may recur more frequently in the future. In order to ascertain
if this were probable, I asked the Engineer to the Lee
Conservancy Board, whether any engineering work had been carried