SERIOUS FLOODS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13702, 19 March 1908, Page 5

SERIOUS FLOODS.

MANY PEOPLE HOMELESS.

HEAVY LOSSES OF STOCK

BRISBANE ISOLATED. By Telegraph.— Tress Association Copyright. Sydney, "March 18. THE arrival of water from above the town caused a renewal of the flood at Gunncdah. Residents in the low-lying streets have been compelled to leave their house*, while many residents of the hamlets along the river are seeking refuge in the town. A church is being used to accommodate the homeless. The water extends as far as the eye can reach, and the flood is the biggest since 1864. In eome places the water is up to the eaves of the houses. Flood boats are out helping householders. Four hundred sheep were drowned on a, common, and it is feared that tJie losses to crops and stock will prove exceedingly heavy. Narrabri reports that the river is again rising, and is causing much anxiety. All the low-lying country is submerged. The people are taking refuge on high lands, and many exciting experiences have been reported in rescuing stock. Numbers of stock are surrounded by water. A selector at Wee Waa saved 400 sheep by dismantling some stockyards and building a, raft, whereon ho placed the sheep. The damage by the floods iu the Tarnworth district is estimated at £40,000. Telegraphic communication with Queensland is still interrupted by the floods, and there is no immediate prospect of restoration. Messages for Brisbane are meantime being cabled via New Zealand. Brisbane newspapers to hand show that the flooding of the Brisbane river has submerged wide suburban areas. The drowning of Constable Murtagh is surrounded by pathetic circumstances. His companions did not give up attempts to rescue him until they were completely exhausted. All the places mentioned, with the exception, 'of course, of Brisbane, are in the northern and north-western districts of New South Wales. Narrabri lies 351 miles to the north-west of Sydney, and has a population of about 3000. Wee Waa is in the same district. Tarn worth is an Important town, with a population of over 20,000, situated 282 miles north of Sydney. The Peel River divides it in the centre. Gunnedah, the centre of a great wheatgrowing district, is on the same river as Narrabrithe Namoi.