LATER PARTICULARS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4571, 16 February 1893, Page 4

LATER PARTICULARS.

Ipswich, Feb. 5, 11 a.m. The water attained its higbeßt level at 4 a.m., when on the Brisbane river it was sixteen feet higher than any other known flood. Several reports of loss of life have ' been received in town, but the details are not yet to hand. The town presents a deplorable appearance; some houßes are upside down, and many have been turned completely ronnd, and scores oE families are rendered homeless. The water rose so rapidly that many persons had to fly from their houses to save their lives, leaving everything they possessed behind them. The Woollen Company's machinery is completely submerged, and the -water reached the floor of the cotton -factory, one of the highest points in the lower part q£ the town. Several houses were entirely washedaway, and others were removed from their blocks. A house is now coming down the stream .from the direction of Church street. Not a house is visible in the basin pocket, and half North Ipßwich is under water. Respecting the dreadful calamity at the Eclipse Colliery, the men went to work in the old mine to remove some rails. The . loof of the mine wbb supported by twenty square blocks of coal left nn touched, and one of these blocks, directly under a gully which was filled with the back water from the Brisbane river, had either been removed or given way. When the surface subsided the wate/rushed in with terrific force. Tne men, or some of them, managed to reach the first level, and pulled the signal rope for the engine-driver to haul them to the Bnrface. The engine, however, - would not work, probably through the intervening fall of earth, and the water Boon roae nearly to the mouth of the tunnel, completely entombing the seven men- It is questionable whether it will ever be possible to recover the bodies. Two of Mr Wright's sons have perished, with five other men. Three men escaped by rushing towards the mouth of the tunnel, the force of the dislodged air almost driving them out. There is not the slightest doubt that four of the Jackeons' family were drowned when the boat capsized. One of the daughters has been in a tree for the last three days, and in trying to rescue her Constable Gangster was drowned. Constable Murray and other constables with a volunteer relief party have gone to rescue her.