BESIEGED BY WATERS

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 725, 26 January 1910, Page 7

BESIEGED BY WATERS

; TOWN BECOMES ISLAND, A' VAST SEA ENCROACHING AT. A' SNAIL'S PACE. . By.Telegraph-rProsa Association-Oonvricht . . Sydney, 'January 25. The town of Walgett is : now a tiny island in -an immense 6ea of water. .As far as the cyo can reach nothing can, bo seen but. water, which is creeping at . a snailrliko. pace' on the, town. , .So plow, is'the advance of the flood,that there is some hope that it will not overflow the toihi. ; ..; The outskirts: of .Walgett' are . already under water.. Several families, liavo • removed their belongings to places -.'of greater safely. . . '.' ' . ;

WALGETT'S IMPROVISED DYKES. ■ Walgett, 176 ;miles north-north-west of Sydney,, is tho,business centro of. all tho outlying/districts to the north and west, and on to the Queensland' border.: ; The town'is situated at the junction of 'the Barwon and! Namoi-Rivers, and on the borders '.of'-the.' central- and: western pastoral divisions. Th'isi it seems, is the first recorded occasion :on w:liich the Bar-, won and ;the Namoi have been flooded at the same time. " Having devastated : the higher, valleys, the floods now' • marched in double:force on Walgett.. •/ '. •'r .Yesterday's: .cablegrams,., describing, the preparations' made at Walgett to'resist the. converging l waters, stated that "Wal- 1 gett presents the appearance of a fortified town. Tho streets Imve , been ploughed up to furnish material for. embankments. Bespito the precautions, it. is : feared jthat there must.'db' heavy loss. ii'-Tho;rivers ' that now threaten to overwhelm the town havo 'occasionally: been' used ."'for . purposes of ' navigation • and ''traffio,. but. the uncertain dejith is a great disadvantage.;' The;district.'is; almost en-, tirely'; occupied, by sheep ' and : cattle. stations.-