RAIN IN AUSTRALIA

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 17, 21 January 1936, Page 11

RAIN IN AUSTRALIA

LIGHTNING FATALITIES

THREE MEN DROWNED

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, January 14.

Bounteous rain giving assurance of wealth to the pastoral and wheatgrowing industries, yet bringing in its trail death and destruction, has lashed Australia from the north-west coast of the continent to the south-east corner of Victoria. A tropical disturbance is responsible, extending further down the east coast than usual.

Some parts ol western Queensland are receiving their first heavy falls for years and in a short time the parched bare areas will be carpeted with green. Already there, is a strong inquiry for sheep at the sales, indicating that graziers are preparing to restore their stock depleted by dry seasons. New South Wales and Victorian farmers are jubilant, declaring that the rain means a "luxury" season. Storms accompanying the beneficial rains, however, brought tragedy. Two men were killed by one flash of lightning, and three deaths occurred in flooded creeks. A cloudburst over Canberra caused damage of- £15,000, and in many country towns buildings were inundated and blown down by gales. Roads were blocked and telephone communication interrupted. Several aeroplane mail services were dislocated.

The lightning victims w&re Zola Sohier, 36, and William Nolan, 27, both of Sydney. They were employees of two timber mills at Maroota, about 50 miles north of Sydney. With eight others they rushed for the shelter of bark huts and canvas tents when a violent storm broke. Sohier and Frank Yanz, son of the owner of one mill, went to a bark hut, and Nolan occupied a tent alone. The remainder were distributed in shelters nearby. At the height of the storm, a vivid flash of lightning seemed to strike in the middle of the camp.. Sohier was killed instantly, his clothes catching fire. Yanz was thrown through the doorway and with one leg numbed he crawled on all fours to one of the tents, and raised the alarm. His mates, who had also felt a shock, snatched the burning clothes off Sohier, but he was past aid. Nolan, it was found, had also been killed outright. His felt hat had been split and evidently the shock had travelled through his body, for one boot was practically burnt off. Where the nails had been pressing close to the foot, the flesh was seared. A large apple tree, under which Nolan's tent was pitched, was blasted by the flash. THREE DROWNINGS. Two brothers met a shocking deatn in a creek. They were William Henry Philp, 62, of Sydney, and John Alexander Philp, 60, of Wagga. They, were travelling from Sydney and attempted to cross a flooded causeway in a car, on the Young-Wallendbeen Road, Western New South Wales. A cloudburst had converted the creek into a raging torrent, but when the car entered the causeway, the water was only up to the running-board. The engine stalled and before the driver could restart it, a wall of water swept down the creek, carrying the car into deep water. The car was held in some debris for a short time and the brothers managed to smash the windows and climb out, but they were immediately swept down stream! A horseman who saw the mishap ran along the bank for a quarter of a mile trying to grab one of the men by the hand. Fighting desperately to regain the shore, the men endeavoured to catch hold of the steep bank of the creek, but the force of water was too strong and they finally disappeared. Their bodies were recovered later.

A third drowning victim was Ronald Wakefield, 18, who went for a bathe, though a poor swimmer -an a flooded creek at Malakoff, in the Dalby district, Queensland. He was soon in difficulties and lost to view. His body was recovered from five feet of water.