N.S.W. Flood Crisis Passes But Homes Still Submerged

Chronicle (Levin), 21 June 1949, Page 5

N.S.W. Flood Crisis Passes But Homes Still Submerged

Received Monday, 7.15 p.m. T+ . , r , , , SYDNEY, June 20. it is believed that the flood crisis in central New South Wales has passed but hundreds -of homeless people haye no chance of returnmg to their ruined dwellings still feet under water. It will he days before the damage is fully assessed and roads and railways can be tised again. People isolated for two days on a high section of the roadway near^ Maitland, could sgc the hoods of 15 single clecker buses' protruding like rafts above the water. Many of the 60 people stranded with their cars and two busses on 300^yards of bitnmen road lacked food and blankets. One woman milked a stranded cow to feed a six-months-old baby. Men built a raft from oil drums and set off to obtain food from abandoned homes nearby but the raft overtnrned when being loaded arid five men had to swihi to sa'fety. Surfboats belonging to surf and lifesaving clpbs, eruised over flooded farmlands and found people on rooftops whq had not eaten since Saturday. The township of Singleton has dried out but is still surrounded by miles of water. The streets are covered with a veneer of mud in which ai;e lying tree trunks, animal eareases, and thousands of pumpkins and other produce.