FLOOD DEATHS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21963, 6 March 1946, Page 5

FLOOD DEATHS

QUEENSLAND TOLL TEN LIVES LOST THOUSANDS IN PERIL BRISBANE, March 5. The worst floods on record have put hundreds of square miles of the Queensland coast from Mackay north under water. Wind and rain are still lashing the area and the floods continue to rise. Ten lives have been lost and' many other people are believed to have been drowned. Anxiety is felt for the inhabitants of Home Hill on the lower Burdckin River which was 84ft. above normal level when it was last checked and is still rising. An R.A.A.F. reconnaissance plane sighted the Home Hill _ people waistdeep in water anti making for a twostoried hotel building. The Burdekin had then broken its banks and was t\Vo miles wide. 200 Miles Cut Off

Practically the whole of the countYy from Townsville, 200 miles north to Cairns, has been cut off from all outside communication since Saturday. Those known to have been drowned include an old-age pensioner and his three sons, a watchman who was overcome at his post, two men. attempting to remove racehorses to high ground, a man who was drowned at the corner of two Townsville streets and a rescue worker whose boat capsized. A 70 mile an hour wind piled up a terrific total of damage. Rescues continued to be made in total darkness last night. The only rainfall figures yet available give a total of as much as 22.20 points up to 9 a.m. yesterday. More than 10,000 people in the low-lying country of the Burdekin basin are in imminent danger and only air reconnaissance can reveal how many of them have managed to reach higher ground.