5000 HOMELESS

Taranaki Daily News, 9 February 1931, Page 5

5000 HOMELESS

LISMORE TOWN FLOODED * - TRAGEDIES IN AUSTRALIA NEW SOUTH WALES DAMAGE j BELIEVED WORSE TO COME BRISBANE RIVER FALLING «. By Tiletraph—Preis Assn.— Copyright. Rec. 5.5 p.m. Sydney, Feb. 8. More than 5000 people have been driven from their homes in Lismore owing to the floods. The town is in a state of indescribable confusion. Speed-boats are racing up and down the streets with homeless people and members Of the telephone exchange are leaving for work in boats. Household furniture is - —out. water is three feet deep in the majority of shops. Men, women and children are moving about in bathing costumes. Carl Wilkinson, diving under his house to rescue something, was hit on the head by a projection and drowned. Another man, attempting to save himself by holding onto the tail of a hbrSe which was swimming through the torrent, was washed away but later rescued unconscious and resuscitated. Two men and a boy have been drowned in the Brisbane floods, which are now rapidly falling. Hundreds of refugees are returning to their homes. While the tide • was at its peak in Brisbane River on Saturday the water ■was about four feet above the wharves on the northern bank and drowned? cattle and domestic pets which were washed down with the torrent. i " The floods on the New _ South Wales north coast are the worst in the history of the State. Lismore residents wrire rescued from the housetops by police boats perilously overloaded. Miles of dairying land is inundated. Kyoglo is also partly under water, and it is still raining. Coraki was deluged and is menaced by the flood waters, but the danger has passed on the Tweed Rivet, which is receding. All trains have ceased on the north coast. Although the rain has ceased at Lismore the river continues to rise and the position is serious. A disastrous flood is feared at Coraki. The river has broken its banks at several places.. Farmer were forced to flee, leaving their stock to be drowned. All the low-lying country :s submerged, and the worst ii} yet to- come. Landslides occurred at Kyogle. Bridges were washed away and fnany houses were completely submerged- The water at places is a mile wide in the Brisbane. River. The suburbs were scenes of desolation. Rumen and Smashed furniture and flattened lencef were sfeen on all sides. Most of the train and tram services have resumed. Some who were forced to vacate their homes returned to find, them in a tSrrible condition, With mud and slush inches deep on the flbors and the furniture ruined. ..... ~n Creeks in the country dis. nets are still running strongly. The Nerahg River is a raging torrent. A man was drowned while trying to cross a flooded creek m the Oxley district. Part of the Ipswich road at Rocklea is 15 :<mt under water. Ohly the roofs of nearly all the houses are visible. The schools have been closed. A heavy flood is predicted in sfevetal northern rivers. -7 e -’ ■ ’■ »•* . Swept downstream by the flood waters jn the Brisbane River, the steamer Momba rammed the lighter Saud, then crashed into the stern of the Mundilla and finally ran ashore at NSW Farm.