GRIM PICTURE OF DAMAGE

Chronicle (Levin), 20 March 1946, Page 5

GRIM PICTURE OF DAMAGE

PLOOD WATERS IN VICTOEIA ! RECEDING Received. Wednesday, 1.10 a.m. MELBOURNE, March 19. j The receding floods in Wescern Vic- j toria are exposing a grim pi.-ture of damage and destructiou. Army i "duclrs," which have heen in constant use since arriving on tlic scene at noon yesterday after a dash of hundreds of miles to the rascue, are now heing' used to distribute food and other sup pnes 'to the stricken townships, which : include Port Pairy. , Many amazing escapes are recorded, ; ini.luding one in which floodwaters swept a pram coutaimng a ha^y out of ! the door of a house while the family1 were asleep. The father wo;ce up just m time to rescue the child. The hodies of thousands of sheep and cattle are floating around what once were fields. Miles of railway lines have been washed away, farmlands devas " tated and crops ruined. The army "ducks" and mctor and rowing hoats have participated in many rescue:-. Many families are still marooned and there may he casualties still not reported, but the danger is now consid ered over. All families at easterton, where several casualties were feared, are now reported safe, As the fiood waters recede, a terrible state of devastation is b-Hng revealed in shops, houses and factories, fiiagy oi' which have been submerged to thet ceilings. The interiors are covered with thick mud and shops' stocks are ruined.