RIVER BANKS BROKEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26113, 28 March 1946, Page 7

RIVER BANKS BROKEN

FLOODS IN AUSTRALIA LARGE AREAS INUNDATED SYDNEY, Mar. 27. As water from the rains which ended yesterday made its way down from the hills the greatest floods for many years swept into the valleys of South Queensland and Northern New South Wales.. The Bellingen, Hastings, and MacLeay Rivers, all in Central and Northern New South Wales, were at their highest levels since 1929.

When a canoe overturned on the Kempsey greyhound racecourse, which was inundated by the swollen MacLeay, a 16-year-old boy was drowned and another was rescued by an exserviceman.

At Grafton the Clarence River broke the level of its banks in two places, and flood waters are still slowly flowing into the town. Damage in this district alone is estimated at £IOO,OOO. Registrations of up to 881 points were among the records for a day’s rain in March. The Clarence River reached a peak of 21ft 9in above normal late last night, since when it has subsided. Floods swept away £IO,OOO worth of sawn timber on the bank of the Crawford River. Twenty-five inches of rain fell on the upper reaches of the Bellingen River, and 12in on the town, creating the biggest flood in the history of the district.