GREAT FLOODS IN MELBOURNE

Wellington Independent, Volume XXI, Issue 2432, 25 October 1866, Page 6

GREAT FLOODS IN MELBOURNE

The Melbourne Argus of the 9th iiist. gives an account of some floods which had taken place in Melbourne. It says : —

That Melbourne and its environs have escaped a flood as disastrous as that of December, 1863, may now be looked upon as certain, but the danger was so great that the providential cessation of the gale and rain which lasted from Thursday afternoon till Saturday morning last, was almost as unexpected as it was welcome. In every direction, save th/it of the higher ground of Melbourne, the waters seemod to have risen most destructively, and a nearer inspection scarcely improved the appearance of things. The railways had escaped, and that was no slight comfort. There were 2ft. Gin. of space between the river and the floor of the railway bridge, which was covered during the last flood, so that was safe ; but towards Sandridge the flood line was within eighteen inches of the rails, the waters reaching up to the ballast, which was fifteen feet high. A narrow watch was kept, and sandbags were in readiness should there be signs of settling, but such signs were not detected at any portion of the ]i nc — no t even at the point near Joli-mont-gate, where the waters had approached so near in 18G8. The lower end of Flinders-street was quite flooded; and the waters, which, however, never covered Queen's AVhftrf, encroached on King and Spencer streets. There was much damage done here, in spite of the warnings given and the preparations made. The lower stories of most of the houses, were, where possible, cleared of goods and furniture, but this could not be done in every case, and in several stores much property was injured. Amongst the sufferers we hear were Bencraft and Co., who had a considerable quantity of grain stored in this neighborhood, and, though great efforts were made, all could ..not be got out in time. The property in the store of the Gripps Land Steam Navigation Company being endangered, Captain Darby, of the steamer Charles Edward, then at the wharf, actually launched his jolly boat, and it was rowed right up to the place where its services were required. The gas mains of the City of Melbourne Company were also seriously interfered with. Though drays had to go through water which covered their axletrees, still business had to be carried on in some way; and it was amusing to notice the shifts to which enterprising publicans were reduced to keep their bars open. Customers were served as they stood on single planks laid along almost on a level with the bar counter. As our readers are already aware, traffic on the St. Kilda and Sandridge roads was stopped. All along the hollow between Prince'sbridge and the hill opposite, on the southern side a deep stream rushed across, and made a sort of cataract, along which no vehicles could pass, except with extreme danger. Only one attempt was made to perform the perilous feat, and this was by Hennessy, the fishmonger, who ventured with his spring cart across from Sandridgo, and got over safely. A chain was placed .across Princes -bridge, on the Melbourne side, and no vehicle whatever was allowed to pass from the city. The stream, whih rushed with tremendous speed and force, was far too strong for boats, except when the current was broken ; so that, in fact, all traffic across was stopped, and the cars for St. Kilda, Prahran, Sandridge, and Emerald-hill had to ply along the Rich-mond-road, and get to south of the Yarra across the Church-street bridge, which, as well as the iron railway bridge adjoining and that at Hawthorn, were in no manner of danger.

Higher up the river the damage done was greater. Most of the lower land in Richmond from a little above Swan-street towards the river, was submerged; but luckily the inhabitants of the houses there knew pretty well what to gxpect, and not nearly the same amount of property was destroyed as in 1863. During the entire of Friday afternoon and night the furniture vans were hard at work. One sad case occurred in the family of a man named Fay. Mrs. Fay, the mother of a large family, lay in her room dying as the water rose ; and, to add to the bustle and alarm which necessarily surrounded her death-bod, a chimney m the house took fire. She died, we believe, just when the flood was at its height. Boats plied along from the railway bridge across Punt-road to the Sir Henry Barkly Hotel, the lower story of which was under water. It was a troublesome voyage- to this popular hostelry, and a still more troublesome affair to climb into the house through a window; but the prospect of the swollen river and overflowing back-waters from the balcony was ample repayment. Mr. Butt, the landlord, bore witness to the extraordinary rapidity with which the waters had risen. Taking all accounts together, the rate of the rising during the night seems to have been about a foot an hour ; and, to use the words of Mrs. Edwards, of the boathouse at Princes-bridge, the water was no sooner seen to come into a room than it was ankle deep before one could turn round. A boat with six persons in it was rowed into the bar of the Sir Henry Barkly Hotel, and the crew had drinks under these novel circumstances.

The wind all yesterday was almost calm ; and save the thick muddy appearance of the water, and the strong fresh running at a tolerably rapid rate far beyond the lightship, together with the flotsam scattered along the shore, there was little else to indicate the violence of the weather during the last few days.