TORRENTIAL STORMS SPREAD NEW FLOOD HAVOC IN N.S.W.

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23218, 1 April 1950, Page 5

TORRENTIAL STORMS SPREAD NEW FLOOD HAVOC IN N.S.W.

SYDNEY, March 31

Sudden torrential storms in Central New South Wales have been followed by widespread floods in new areas. Already hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage has been caused and the waters are spreading’ across hundreds of acres of land in the Bathurst, Lithg’ow and Wellington districts.

Homesteads have been inundated, 1 road and rail traffic disorganised, industries halted and crops and vegetables destroyed.

Rivers throughout Central and West New South Wales rose with terrifying swiftness after downpours ranging from three to lOin. in a few hours. The town of Sofala on the Turon River is isolated. The Hawkesbury River at Richmond rose from a trickle to a depth of over 35ft. in six hours. At Wellington, a camper aged 62 was saved just as he released his hold of a briar bush which was preventing him from being swept into the current. Meanwhile, the flooded Murrumbidgee continues to create havoc in Southern New South Wales. Last night it breached a levee covering the township of Darlington Point and swept through all but four of the settlement’s 100 houses. The fioodwaters have now stabilised themselves at a level only four inches below that of the disaster of 1931 when the whole town was practically swept away. The current racing through the rear of the town is cutting away the bank and imperilling many houses which have already been evacuated.