FLOODS AND STORMS

Evening Star, Issue 19443, 29 December 1926, Page 7

FLOODS AND STORMS

HEAVY RAIN IK NEW SOUTH WALES t TOWNS INUNDATED MANY PEOPLE HOMELESS. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. SYDNEY, December 29. (Received December 29, at 11 a.m.) Torrential rains benefited the whole State, but caused heavy floods in many parts.

The towm of Cessnock and the suburbs of Newcastle suffered severely, and scores of people were rendered homeless.

There were many thrilling rescues. 'Rain, falling without cessation for forty-eight hours, submerged all the low-lying parts of Newcastle and district, causing damage estimated at many thousands of pounds. Belmont, a holiday resort on Lake Macquarie, is cut off from Newcastle both by rail and road, owing to sections of the line and road being submerged. So rapidly did the flood waters rise that the safety of the inhabitants was jeopardised. As the local municipal authorities had made no provision for rescue work in the event of floods, the work had to bo taken over by the Newcastle police. The water police manned skiffs, and, rowing up and down the flooded streets, rescued the householders. As the rain continues it is anticipated that the position will become more acute.

Reports from all parts of the country state that communications are greatly interrupted, and that there are many washaways on the railways, disorganising the traffic.

Cessnock was flooded without warning, the waters rising so rapidly that the residents had barely time to escape from their submerged homes. In oh© case the police had to swim 100yds to rescue a family, whom they pulled into the boats by ropes.

Mamy miners, with their fancies, who were encamped in the garden suburb of North Stockton for the holidays, had to return, as the tents were torn down by the cyclone which accompanied the floods.

So far only one fatality is reported. An old man living in a tent at the foot of the Liverpool Range, near Murrundi, was drowned while attempting to'cross a flooded gully. Further floods and heavy gales are anticipated, and flood warnings have been issued in all parts of the country.