HEAVY FLOODS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 143, 3 April 1950, Page 3

HEAVY FLOODS

SEVERAL TOWNS THREATENED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE (N.Z.P. A— Copyright) (Rec. 10.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The flood toll rose to four when two men attempting to cross the flooded Bell River at Wellington were drowned. Townspeople pleaded with them not to cross, but when they insisted on, plunging into the 500-yards-wide stream, motorists turned headlights on the water for them. The men were thought to have crossed safely, but when they did not arrive at their homes, a search was organised. One body has been recovered. Floodwaters surging down from upper reaches of the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers now threaten towns in central New South Wales with the worst flooding in their history. Canowindra, Dubbo, Goolagong, Wei lington, Manildra, Forbes, Cowra and Eugowra are in danger, with the water level still rising. The police have made urgent calls to residents in low-lying areas warning them of the danger. Meanwhile the Murrumbidgee, Nepean and southern New South Wales rivers have renewed their threats. Water is seven- feet over the spillway at the Wyangaladam, and the police expect levels to reach greater heights than in the record disastrous flood of 1918.

In the new flooding thousands of acres of lucerne, orchards and vegetable crops have been destroyed. The Ball River, which joins the Macquarie at Wellington, and which normally is a trickle, is now a mile wide in some places, and many Wellington residents are making for higher ground. On the central tablelands GJendavis is cut off by road from Lithgow, and the bridge across the Capertee River is awash. ' Several main roads in the LithgowBathurst district are under water. On the Murrumbidgee River near Carrathool about 30 square miles on either side of the river is under water. Many stations are marooned, and stations hands are manning levee banks. Other graziers immobilised by the flood are spending their time killing rabbits'which are .clustering thickly on half-submerged trees, logs and fences. Burragorang valley is completely cut off by the swollen Wollondilly River, and many holiday-makers are still cut off there. Vegetable and fruit growers of New South Wales say that the floods and rains have caused the worst season on record, and that the grave losses suffered would result in higher pneefs, directly affecting the cost of living.