BURSTING OF DAM

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 11, 23 December 1933, Page 5

BURSTING OF DAM

ALARM IN A TOWN. RESIDENTS’ ANXIOUS NIGHT. The burning of Eaton's dam, four miles from Creswick, Victoria, early in the morning on the occasion of the recent floods, caused considerable alarm in the town. The dam is half an aeie in extent. Unusually severe rain during the night had occasioned misgivings. and, on a sensational report lieing received in the town after midnight, tho firebell was run to warn residents of the danger. Tho occupants of shops and houses in tho low-lying areas spent an anxious night watching tho water rising in Creswick Creek. They removed furniture and valuables to higher ground. The dam did not burst suddenly. It apparently began to leak, then the leak widened slowly, so that the creek was fully able to carry off the surplus water. During the night it rose steadily until at 5.30 a.m. a foot of water covered tho floors of the shops in the lowest part of the town. The water did not rise further, however, and it was soon clear that the safely of the town was assured. The last occasion on winch trouble was experienced with Eaton's dam was on December 17, 186‘J, when tho embankment broke in a very similar fashion. Alarmed by the breaking away of a storm-water channel above the State Forestry Commission’s nursery, near Creswick. 16 relief workers hurriedly left their camp and sought accommodation in the town.