DESTRUCTIVE FLOODS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. SERIOUS LOSS OF LIFE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3972, 16 May 1870, Page 6

DESTRUCTIVE FLOODS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. SERIOUS LOSS OF LIFE.

We compile the following telegraphic summary of the late destructive floods in New South. Wales from Sydney papers to hand per the s. s. ' Auckland' :—: — Wagga Wagga has been visited by a flood, which has caused considerable damage • the water was over the door of the Squatters' Hotel. Numbers of free selectors are ruined. The bridge stood well, and it will not coat over £50 to repair it. The water reached, the Joint Stock Bank, and covered the floor to the depth of 18 inches. The flood has done fearful damage along the whole coui^e of the river downwards. The news -from Hay states that the river is rising rajndly, r and that a flood ia 4#evitable:v. Active steps . are being taken to reliever MieisufFerera by the floods. Fearful distress prevails. The river on May 2 was down to rfcs xisual level. The scene on all sides, is desolate in the extreme, and. there is much distress. Government aid is coming forward. Four bodies of those drowned have been recovered — three Gouldings and. Mary. Kelly. At Burner, the farmatoaqs of G. Green, J. Lee, and Mr. J, Thomson have been entirely swept away ; Mr. T. ~L. Biddulph's, at Eerie, is nearly gone"; Dr. McKenzies is covered with sand ; and all down the river L inimense quantities of the alluvial flats have goiif. The Government aid has been placed, by the Colonial Secretary, in the hands of an hotel-keeper and the sergeant of police. The late flood at Shoalhaven has been four feet higher then at the great flood of 1860. Terrara, and the other low-lying townships, have been greatly injured. Numbers of cattle have been drowned, and, what is worse than all, five lives have been lost. At West Maitland, Aggars's boot store haa only the front staudina; ; the rest has fallen into the river. May 5 : The Government embankment had settled two or three feet on May 5. The back parts of Goulds, Ticrney'si and Antcliff's stores fell in on May 4. On May 5. the bank of the river was nearly flush with the backs of the houses in High-street, from Youdale's, oj>posite the Telegraph Office, to Wolfe and Gorrick's, whose piling stood well. The inhabitants were removing their stocks, &c, expecting the houses to fall over back buildings. On May 6, the Government embankment, in High-street, sunk in the centre, and became useless. Fears were entertained for the Belmore Bridge. The weather was fine, j/nd the back water lowering. At 3 p.m. on the same day, it wag reported that the Belmore Bridge h&d bepn examined by the engineers, aud found all right. A deputation from West Maitland waited on the Colonial Secretary on May 4, respecting the distribution of the £5,000 placed at the disposal of the Government as a special ap* propi'iation for the relief of sufferers from, the floods, such relief to be given in the way of employment in repairs to the roads. They also consulted the Government as to "what could b§ deyised to prevent the disasters consequent upon the rise #f tk§ waters on the Hunter. On the 29(-h ultimo, railway flommunication (which had been interrupted by the recent high floods) was resumed between Newcastle and the High-street station at West Maitland. Through traffic was resumed on the Northern line on May 2. The Flood Committee a{ .Melbourne have voted £200 for the sufferers l>y j,hg flood at Maitland. Groat distress exists at Araluea the floods. At Ooonamfele, Mudgee jfcw# houses were entirely washed away, put no lives lost. Apiil 30 : At Yass the lattice -girders of the iron bridge are partly out of water : one I is not injured, and, though 185 feet long and weigh ing GO tons, it was carried down the stream by the Iqvqq of the current for over 100 feet. The bridge vai? §ix feet under water ; the pressure of the cu}?r§nfc and timber caused the girders to bend four feejj out of their line before they fell over. Two of the cylinders are broken, and two piers have shifted, though sunk many feet in the solid i'o^k, The contractor made a temporary bridge iov (oQi yasjsiengeis and mails, Many houses are totally destroyed, and others are in ruins, i^clud^ng the telegraph station, which is much injured, The Woolgarlo Works have been much injured ; the manager's house and buildings have been swept away. Floods are reported at Gundagai, and several lives have been lost ; there is also a fearful Joss of sjtock, On the Murrumbidgee the. 1 water is up to the iron bridge, but it is safe. At Windsor some of the farms at Wilberforce are visible, but present a most miserable sight ; large landslips have taken place. On May 3 a public meeting was held, at Windsor, in reference to tfys la.&j floods. The town of Cowra is almost destroyed, and qeygval lives have been lost. The destruction of stopk has been enormous. The Biverina settlers may expect heavy floods in theiv rivers. Railway communication with Goulbnrn was resumed on May 2. Ai th« inland town of Forbes the late floods did a very consider^ Jg amount of damage. Here the water rose four fee^ higher- fchan the flood of 1864. Mr. J, S. Brown, sheep inspector of Dubbo, returned from the Bogan, and reports Mr. T. Baird, of the Belerlnga Creek, near Warren, had to clear out and abandon the station in consequence of the floods, A groat many sheep, belonging to Messrs. Gardiner and .Rater, had been swept away at Beleringa Qreek, The, country bore a most devastated appearance, and Mr. Brown was forced to return, because be could not reach his destination. In the recent flood (says the Muswellbrooh Monitor) a prisoner was in danger of being drowned in his cell. When the water reached the unfortunate man's waist, the lock-up keeper telegraphed to head-quarters to know if he might liberate . the prisoner in case he was , overflowed. The official reply proving satisfactory, the man was saved, The Nepean rose rapidly during the night of May 5, and caused the greatest anxiety to the inhabitants. From sunset to sunrise the waters rose 20ft., nearly level with the railway bridge. Hundreds of families abandoned their home*, and sought shelter on the more elevated positions, The scenes in many places - were of a most heartrending description. Numbers of persons, who I^4 p§-, mained in their houses too long to take shelter elsewhere, were obliged to crawl up to the tops of their houses, and there remain, in' momentary dread of being washed away. I he Government boats did excellent service in Rescuing these from their perilous positions. The' residents about Cornwallis had. returned home, . believing the floods were all' over . ' but their fancied security was abruptly dispelled by the waterp rising again during the night, and completely cutting them off from 1 > the higher positions, and flooding their dwelling^ to an alarming extent.. The loss of life has not^tfeenyery great, but, in addition to the sevfen lives already reported Wt^three, persons' haVe been, drowned at Castlereagh, . - * ... .

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