FLOODS IN AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9377, 29 May 1889, Page 5

FLOODS IN AUSTRALIA.

AN UNPRECEDENTED DOWN-

POUR.

LOSS OF LIFE.

VILLAGES SUBMERGED.

PrttH Association.—E'.ect-rie Telegraph.—Copyright. Sydney, May 27. During the past 72 hours 10 inches of rain have fallen, an unprecedentedly heavy downpour. Great damage has been done to the outlying parts of the city and country. The telegraph and railways are interrupted. It is blowing terrifically along the coast, and many coasting vessels are overdue. All the rivers are rising rapidly, Severe floods are anticipated in the country. The omnibus running to Canterbury, a small town on the Cooks River, 6 miles from Sydney, was washed away this afternoon. A boy named Price was drowned, but the other passengers were rescued with difficulty. There is no sign of any abatement in the weather.

Melbourne, May 27.

Floods in the Numurkah and Yarrawonga districts have assumed unparalleled proportions. The whole of the lower Goulbourn Valley is covered with water. The town of Numurkah is surrounded with water, and hundreds of acres of forward crops have been destroyed. The town of Natalia, 14| miles from Numurkah, is in danger of being overwhelmed. Sydney, May 28.

In consequence of the Hooded state of the country railway communication is blocked in all directions. Never in the history of the department has there been such a stoppage. At Croydon, a small suburb six miles west of Sydney, thirty families were rescued by boats. The borough town of Marrickville is submerged, and the residents are leaving in boats. A rescuing boat at Windsor was wrecked, and a man named Jenkins was drowned. There are now some slight signs of abatement in the weather. Later. Up to this evening twenty inches of rain have fallen during the storm, but it is now clearing up. At Kiama, a man named Casey was drowned. The northern mail train was thrown from the rails at the Muswellbrook, owing to the line being washed away. No one was injured, but one man had a narrow escape. lie managed to get out through the carriage window, and had to swim for his life. At Armadale, a boy, name unknown, was drowned.