TOWN ENDANGERED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 288, 6 December 1933, Page 7

TOWN ENDANGERED

VICTORIAN FLOODS RUSHING BODIES OF WATER ONE FOURTEEN MILES WIDE By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright? Received Dec. 5, 11.50 p.m. MELBOURNE, Dec. 5. Thc town of Pyramid Hill 55 miles northward of Bendigo, is imperilled by rushing flood waters in two huge bodies, one being 14 miles wide and three feet deep. This devastating inland sea is expected to reach Pyramid Hill late in thc afternoon. Men have been working feverishly to save the place by throwing up sandbag embankments, but thc latest messages indicate that these will be useless. Furniture has been removed to thc tops of houses. Shops in Mologa hamlet in the middle of the Loddox watershed, are inundated and man houses are awash. Outlying farms with irrigation systems are hurriedly decpenin thc ventral channel, but it is unlikely that they will be able to divert the water of tho 14-mile flood. Serpentine Creek and Laanccoorte Weir, have already covered tho villages of Canary Island, Durhamox and Yando. Farmers hereabouts arc unable to find refuge for their stock owing t* thc level nature of the country.

DANGEROUS LIGHTNING

STORM IN VICTORIA. YOUTH AND HORSE KILLED. SYDNEY, Dee. 5. Thomas Wilson, aged 18, and hit horse were killed by lightning near Parkes while Mustering sheep, 60 of which were knocked unconscious. An eye-witness stated that he saw Wilson and his horse surrounded by sparks of fire, the whole scene being brilliantly lit up. Wilson did not move. Then he and his horse sagged and toppled to the ground. The sheep rolled on their backs and remained with their logs in tho air for about half an hour. They then recovered. EXTENSIVE DAMAGE DONE MELBOURNE, Dec. 5. Another severe storm resulted in al! tho electric suburban train services being stopped for half an hour. The lightning burned out 1J miles of overhead wire, stranding thousands of passengers. A woman was paralysed by lightning at East Brunswick. The power house at Northcote and three transformers were wrecked and lights and telephones in the district, which were dislocated for two hours, also damaged by lightning. A baker was badly burned when flood waters burst into thc bakery, swept him off his feet and threw him against the oven. Terrific hail fell in several suburbs, and tiles and windows were smashed in many homes.