THE QUEENSLAND DISASTER

Otago Witness, Issue 3335, 13 February 1918, Page 21

THE QUEENSLAND DISASTER

FLOODS, CYCYLONE. AND TIDAL WAVE. A NIGHT OF TERROR. HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE. APPALLING DAMAGE DONE. ■' (From Oub Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 30. Although it is over a week since a terrible cyclonic storm swept in out of the Pacific and devastated a portion of tropical Queensland, particulars of the disaster are Still scant and disconnected. . The section of the Queensland , coast which has been affected stretched from v north of Townsvillo to south of Rockhampton, a distance of about 400 miles. In the centre of this area, is the prosperous sugar-growing town of Mackay. Mackay, and the districts immediately north and south, got the full force of the cyclone. The other towns—Bowen and Townsvillo to the north, and Rockhampton to the south—experienced torrential rains, causing much damage, but 'they missed the amazing wind. ~ , The disaster at Mackay may be divided into four stages. First, up to the night of Saturday, January 19, there was torrential rain; second, from'Sunday evening to Monday evening there was a terrific gale, a cyclone; third, during the cyclone, in the early part of Monday, there was a phenomenal tide, resulting in a portion of the town being suddenly inundated, and causing much loss of life; and fourth, during Tuesday there was another spell of torrential rain. Since then there has been a great deal of rain, which has added considerably to the damage and gravely increased the' flood' danger over all North Queensland. The rains have also impeded the work of rescue. Railways, roads, bridges, and telegraph lines are down in all directions, and communication is almost impossible between the affected districts. So far as is known now, 19 persons have been drowned in Mackay, which, considering the nature and extent of the disaster, is an astonishingly small number. ihe -town is practically wrecked. At least iw buildings have been completely demolished, and almost all buildings have suffered more or less-. The damage is incalculable, lne injury done by the floods alone u enormous; the town' has been partly under water now for a week. The storm did not come unexpectedly. There had been terrifio rain, and the barometer had an ugly look.: "On Sunday, January 20, Mackay was specially warned by trie Weather Bureau to expeot a serious blow. The wind was steadily increasing. At y p.m. on Sunday the barometer startled everybody by falling to 29.571. At 11 o'clock p.m. the lightkeeper. on Flat fop Island, off the mouth of the Pioneer River (on which Mackay is situated; reported that the wind had reached- a velocity of 10 miles an hour. That was the last message received from Flat Top. It was subsequently learned that the gale which afterwards attained a velocity of 200. miles an hour, demolished all the building* and killed the live stock on the island, but the residents escaped with their nves. . That iSunday ■ night was a night of indescribable terror in'Mackay The wind, carrying with it a fearful, driving ram, increased in force every hour The howling of the wind rose to a shrill, high note. The force of the tempest was such that no one could walk against it, yet the occasional crash of collapsing buildings, and the constant clatter of flying debris showed tho danger of remaining, indoors. Une report says that, all night, lights could be seen in all directions, showing that few dared to go to bed. . Things were at their worst in the grey dawn of Monday, January 21. At 4 a.m. the post-office barometer showed a. reading on the lowest possible point of the instrument, and opposite the point marked "Catastrophe." The wind had been coming from the south. Now, having reached a terrible and increasing velocity, it veered to the east. This brought fresh disaster. Just when the populace was regarding with dismay the wrecked houses which the wan light showed up, it was seen that the gale was bringing a great and unprecedented tide into the river, already swollen greatly by flood waters. In a little time, the masses of water were forced over the river banks oh to lowlying parts of the town, hitherto regarded as quite safe. .Some families escaped with difficulty'; others were caught and drowned. This is where most of the fatalities occurred. Some persons, but surprisingly few, were killed by the falling timbers of their houses collapsing under the gale. The day which thus dawned continued amid scenes of terror and destruction. The air was full of danger. Before the gale sheets of galvanised iron were hurled like scraps of paper, while the terrifio force of the wind impeded progress, and the rain cut like a knife. The discomfort of the unhappy people were accentuated by the absence of water and gas; the mains had been broken by tho storm. Still, it was a British community, and the terrors of the howling out-of-doors did not deter rescue work. Early on that black Monday the police, the firemen, the ambulances, and other organised bodies, with many volunteers, were out getting the people into places of greater safety. Their first and most urgent tasks had to do ■with the people from thosa parts of the " town suddenly overwhelmed with tidal and flood waters, and residents from collapsed houses were alnO in urgent need of succour. All public buildings were commandeered for their us* —all* buildings undamaged, that is, some buildings, like tho drill nail, became tho prey of the storm, and were rendered untenable after refugees had been settled in them. Clothing, blankets, and food were commandeered wherever they could be found. By 10.30 on Monday night _ the gale had perceptibly decreased, and _ it became possible to move around and inspect the damage. The main part of tho town had been transformed almost beyond recognition. Soarcely a building- hnd escaped, and many were in nuns. All kinds of debris — galvanised iron, building material, telephone wiro. branches of trees, and contents of buildings littered the streets. Tho fine banyan trees a feature of Mackay streets, were either uprooted or shipped of their branches. Surrounding or covering- all this litter was water. The roads and footways resembled an unbroken . i. During Monday night ' rrifying electrical disturbance broke over the town, with thunder, lightning, find heavy rain bursts. The rain' continued heavily on Tuesday. From 8 p.m. on Sunday to 9 p.m. on Tues-

day, not less than 24.68 in of rain fell, or over 2ft in two days. It can therefore be understood that the surface water which covered Mackay then and for some days afterwards wa3 something phenomenal. Destruction overtook a number of small steamers which were lying at Mackay when the cyclone came. The Tay fouled the bridge across the river and went ashore, apparently in a hopeless condition. The Pelican went ashore on the opposite side but may yet be saved. Tho Brinawarr sank in deep water above tho bridge and the Ospfey below, while the Government steamer Relief went down at her moorings. A number of launches were either sunk or thrown high and drv. Mackay was loft without a vessel capable of running out to Flat Top Island, which is the communicating station between the town and the oversea and coastal steamers, which cannot enter the river. This explains the*paucity of news. The telegraphs are all down, and so ; it is difficult to get messages out to the ships, which are in wireless communication with Brisbane and other points. Such news I as has come through has been sent by ships'. ; wireless. Mackay's most serious loss lies in raw I sugar. That is the chief industry of the ' district, and thousands of tons of raw sugar, 1 estimated to be worth over £1,000,000, were stored in and near the town. It is feared ! that much, if not all, of this has • been ..destroyed % .... 1 One or two personal stories of the disaster have come through. Roberto Morton, an ' old Scotch engineer, employed on , the steamer Relief, lived with his wife and . daughter in a low-lying part of the town, and tho family was caught by the flood. His daughter'tells the story. "The tidal ! waters swept over our house at five o'clock :on Monday morning. The building col- ; lapsed, and father was struck on the head bv the falling timber and drowned. Whtn I'got free my first thought was for mother, j and I got her out of the debris. She | caught hold of some floating timber, and I ! did likewise We soon drifted apart, although we remained in sight of each other for some time. The waters buffeted us ! about in all directions for three hours. We 1 finally reached a house in Victoria street. 1 reached there before nine o'clock, but it : was an hour after that before mother landed " i A whole family named Welsh with the I exception of the husband, was drowned in this part of the town. Rescuers did their ! utmost, to save the family, but so r sudden ' was the inrush of water, and so terrible the ■ ! storm, that the wife and five children were . { drowned. The man was saved with great 1 difficulty. j The damage suffered in the other towns, I although very considerable, is nothing in j comparison. The rains have gone on steadi'y, however, and now Rockhampton j is said to be gravely threatened by a great j flood coming down the Fiizroy River.