WORST FLOODS FOR YEARS

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2714, 23 June 1925, Page 7

WORST FLOODS FOR YEARS

New South Wales Under Storm FORECAST OF FURTHER HEAVY RAINS. [By Electric Cable—Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] (Received Monday, 8.5 p.m.) SYDNEY, June 52. • Practically the whole State is flooded, causing greater havoc than for the past twenty-five years. There has been enormous damage over wide areas, but the waters are now receding. Penrith is yow out of danger. Windsor and Richmond are cut off from Sydney by road, the flood waters in places being twenty feet deep. The body of Davidson, a mail contractor and well-known grazier at Queanbeyan, was found near Burra Creek. He was swept from a sulky while crossing the creek. Although the -waters are receding in many districts, the weather bureau has issued a further flood warning, forecasting additional heavy rain. FORBES AND COWRA UNDER WATER. CANTERBURY PARK RACES POSTPONED. (Received Monday, 11 p.m.) SYDNEY. June 22. The River Forbes continues to rise. It is feared T>y to-morrow most of the town will be under water. Parts of Cowra are already inundated and residents are removing their goods to the higher levels. A Chinese, while attempting to cross the flooded area, was drowned. Although there were many thrilling rescues in the flooded districts, so far only two fatalities have been reported. The Canterbury Park Races have been abandoned. RIVERS ENORMOUSLY SWOLLEN. SYDNEY, June 22. Floods, which are greater than any experienced hitherto, are sweeping across the low-lying country round the Nepean River, and at Gouiburn. The sea is still very rough, and vessels are unable to leave shelter. At Gouiburn the Wollondilly River is running a banker. The police had to rescue isolated people with boata Queanbeyan, Bungendore, and Tarago are also submerged in parts. The railway line for threequartors of a mile over the Brcadalbane Plain is covered, but traffic is not yet affected. The river, at the waterworks reached a greater height than at any time in the last thirty years. J. Davidson, a mailman, of Burra, left Queanbeyan for the mails, and later his horse and sulky were found in a creek. Davidson was misslthg, and is believed to have been drowned. At Forbes, the Lachlan River has risen seventeen feet, and it is expected that the flood will be as great as that of 1923, when it rose to fortytwo feet.

The Nepean at Camden is twelve feet above the bridge, and the river is still rising at the rate of ten inches an hour All the lower reaches round the town are inundated Four rescue boats were busy all day on Sunday rescuing the unfortunate occupiers of the flooded homes. The latest reports from Penrith state that the position there is ominous. The river is thirty feet above the safety level and is rising at the rate of three feet an hour. The town is in danger of a. tremendous flood The Cateract Dam is overflowing, four feet above the spillway, into the Nepean. The Hawkesbury River is rising at the rate of three feet an hour, and it is feared that the flood will be immeasurably wmrsc than that of last month. The bridge at Windsor is submerged to a. depth of seven feet, and reports from up tho country state that the. river is rising. Windsor is entirely cut off from the north. The Richmond Bridge is under eight feet of water, and North Richmond and Kurrajong are cut off. The police are busily engaged in warning residents on the lowlands and the river banks. Large areas are submerged.

Telegraphic communication south of Goulburn is very shaky. The meteorologist forecasts further heavy fall of rain and sa.ys the prospects of floods in the north-eastern districts are very pronounced.