TOWNS UNDER WATER

Evening Star, Issue 25745, 19 March 1946, Page 5

TOWNS UNDER WATER

THE VICTORIAN FLOODS WORST IN HISTORY OF WESTERN DISTRICT MELBOURNE, March 18. Some towns are under water and others partly submerged by the worst floods in the history of the western district of Victoria. Hundreds of people are homeless because their houses have been either covered by water or swept away. It is feared.that the death roll may bo higher than was at first expected. Army “ duck ” amphibious vehicles, carrying life-saving gear, made a dramatic 200-mile dash in the darkness from Bandiana Camp to Melbourne, averaging nearly 40 miles an hour. Early this morning they refuelled and continued at top speed to the stricken area, where they went into action this afternoon. The picture is still incomplete, owing to disarranged communications. One town is completely submerged, and in others all the inhabitants have been evacuated to higher / ground, where they can watch the waters gradually covering the roofs of their dwellings. One wharf at Port Fairy collapsed, and another is crumbling. A constable who took a boat into the middle of the flood waters found a family of five astride the topmost gable of their house, with their feet in the rising water. Others were hauled to safety by ropes. For the 24 hours ended at 9 o’clock this morning, 858 points of rain were recorded at Warrnambool, the highest total ever registered for one day.

The principal towns affected bv the floods are Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Portland, Castertoa, Hamilton, Coleraine, and Macarthur. The rain has now' ceased, but a huge volume of water is still pouring down the rivers, which have broken their banks. At Port Fairy a lake sft deep has been formed in the centre of the town, which has never before been flooded. Serious fears are held for the safety of three families in the Port Fairy district.