Seven People Saved From Flood Surge

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23316, 27 July 1950, Page 7

Seven People Saved From Flood Surge

SYDNEY, July 26.

Seven people were rescued from swollen flood waters in north-western New South Wales by policemen. A man and two youths were swept from a sulky when crossing Wee Waa Lagoon. They found refuge in a tree from which they were rescued by constables who swam horses through the strong current. At Narrabri, two men watching the Namoi River rise were cut off by the water. They were driven into the top deck of a grandstand from which they were picked up by a boat. Fully clothed In uniform and leggings, a police constable dived into the flooded Maclntyre River at Goondiwindi and saved two people from drowning. One was a woman patient in the Goondiwindi Hospital near the riverbank and the other was a wards* man who attempted to save her when she plunged into the river.

Over 300 people fled from their homes in Forbes last night in face of the advancing floodwaters. Floods have entered the main shopping centre of Narrabri and have isolated 100 grazing families in the district. Army amphibians are supplying the families with food. Ten thousand square miles of sheep country has been inundated by the Gw.vdir, Maclntyre and Barwon Rivers. In the MacLeav district, the centre of which is Kempsey. the damage is estimated at £3,000,000. The official estiate of the daamgc to New South Wales roads is over £2,500,000.