BLEAK OUTLOOK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 143, 19 June 1930, Page 7

BLEAK OUTLOOK.

CRITICAL FLOODS. Widespread Devastation in New South Wales. HEROISM OF RESCUERS. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. While the 'position in the northern flood areas is critical and property damage is extensive, the Weather Bureau forecasts the possibility of more floods. Heavy rain is. still falling generally. . .•••■• • Serious- floods are inevitable in the Manning and' Hunter areas. The damage in Maitland and Wyong districts is enormous. In Maitland many people were rescued by flood boats. The water was three feet over the floor in some homes. The cries of one distressed mother, who was nursing a sick baby, e were heard by. rescuers, who smashed the windows and lowered the pair by ropes, into a boat. Another case was that of a woman standing in water up to her armpits when she was rescued. Water is now entering tlie shops in the main at Maitland. At Patterson great disaster threatens. The river is up .30 feet. Scores of people have left , their, homes at Morpeth. Flood boats are doing gallant work. Thousands of acres of crops in these l districts have been ruined. The floods are tlie worst for 17 years. At Raymond Terrace, near Newcastle, 22in of rain have fallen in 48 hours. Cattle have been drowned in hundreds and crops and orchards have been ruined. Some towns are isolated owing to the breakdown of telegraph lines. TURBULENT TASMAN. KAPONGA IN HEAVY GALE. SYDNEY, June IS, The New Zealand collier Kaponga, which readied Newcastle , this after-, noon, is the first vessel which has entered or left that port since late on Monday. She took seven days on the trip from Wellington, which usually occupies five and a half days. ! The Kaponga ran into a gale 550 miles off Newcastle, and the wind sometimes 1 attained a velocity of GO miles an hour. The ship was only lightly loaded, which ' saved her from serious damage. Waves ' frequently broke right over her. Captain Whiteford and Chief Officer Everington stood continuous watches during the storm, and tliey only sighted one other vessel, the Alveric, which is now standing off Newcastle. The Kaponga's officers agree that it ' was the worst gale in the last ten years. ' However, when the ship berthed they were" 1 more interested in hearing the 1 scores in the Test cricket match in Erig- : land than in telling of their own experiences.