HEAVY FLOOD AT THAMES

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 46, 22 February 1917, Page 2

HEAVY FLOOD AT THAMES

TOWN UNDER WATER.

(BI TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

THAMES, 21st February

A disastrous flood occurred here this morning. A heavy storm of wind and rain raged during the night, and early this morning a small bridge over the creek above the town was washed away and carried down stream. It blocked the channel where the cemented portion begins, with the result that the water overflowed and deluged the town. Logs, debris, and silt were deposited everywhere, ruining gardens and invading houses. •

Many people escaped, leaving all the contents of the'houses behind.

Much damage was done in shops that were flooded. Every street was like a lake. Business was suspended, and the town isolated.' »

Telegraphic communication is suspended at present. Railway washouts have stopped all traffic.

When the obstruction in the channel was removed the water left the streets.

[An even more disastrous flood, occurred at the Thames in 1880, due to a cloud burst about 7 o'clock one Saturday evening. * The rain came down in torrents for some hours, and the result was a flood which did an immense amount of damage. Every shop and dwelling-houEe in the centralVportion of the town was invaded by the water, in some instances to a deptlr of three or four feet, and the occupiers spent the whole of the following day (Sunday) in removing the accumulations of silt from the floors and drying sodden goods. Live stock, such as poultry,, dogs, cats, goats, etc., together with firewood and timber, were swept into the harbour, and heaps of provisions were totally ruined by the water. A, peculiar thing about the occurrence was that not a drop of rain fell in the outer portions of the district.]