HEAVY STORM.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1695, 11 March 1913, Page 5

HEAVY STORM.

FLOODS IN SYDNEY. WIDE AREAS UNDER WATER. OVERDUE VESSELS. By Telegraph—Press A6aociation-CoDyriuht Sydney, March 10. Saturday's storm was one of the worst 011 record. The metropolitan area was the centre of misfortune. : l''rom a moderate north-easterly the gale developed. to hurricane force in a couple of hours, accompanied by deafening thunder, vivid lightning, and a deluge of rain. Altogether rain fell for 28J hour's in the city, and 7.59 inches were registered. The streets were transformed into streams, sweeping .the low-lying areas, which were quickly submerged, in places many feet deep. The tram services were dislocated through debris blocking the rails, long stretches of which were under water. Sixty cars were derailed, but none were injured. The ferry services were discontinued, and the vessels moored. The smaller craft had a rough handling. The only harbour fatality was that previously cabled, the drowned man, Walter Moore, being a prominent yachtsman. There was a peculiar fatality at Waterloo. An electric wire broke, and in falling curled round the neck of a man named Clifford, who was electrocuted. The cabman who was drowned at Leichhardt was named Stockley. He was driving in the darkness, and on the road there was a deep dip filled with flood water, into which the liorse stumbled. The man's body was recovered in eight feet of water. The horse was also drowned. Damage in the Suburbs. There was damage doue all round ihe city, particularly in the western suburbs, where the storm was very severe. Streets were torn up, gardens destroyed, trees uprooted, fences and outhouses washed away, houses flooded, and hundreds of fowls nud domestic animals destroyed. It is estimated that around Marrickville the water encroached in six hundred houses, greatly damaging the furniture, and in some cases washing away portions of the houses. Along Cook's River, the river invaded houses, and the inmates had an exciting time. They took refuge on tables and roofs. ■ A man swam the river for a quarter of a mile and secured a boat, by which ho rescued twenty-two men, women, and children. In several cases the flood was too high to allow of doorways being entered, and the iron roofs had to bo removed beforo the inmates could be rescued from their perilous position.' At Homebusli the roof of a house occupied by Mr. Cameron, secretary of the Civil Ambulance, his wife, and four chil--1 dren, collapsed. The wife was pinned by a beam to the bed, but was rescued uninjured. Two sons received severe scalp wounds. More Lives Lost, At Newcastle there was'■a heavy storm and flood. Ten draught horses belonging to tho Australian Agricultural Company were being driven in tho street, when an electric light wiro broke and fell on tho animals, all being killed.

A man named O'Donnell foil into a storm-water channel ami wis drowned. Another man, named Worthington, was drowned crossing a flooded creek at Clifton.

The Imperial Hotel roof was carried a hundred yards, and dropped on and wrcckod another building.

Other buildings wero unroofed and damaged. Some sleepers and customers in tho hotel, and residents of adjoining places had miraculous escapes.

There have been a number of railway washaways, and trains have been hold up. The telegraphic services aro seriously blocked. Troops Flooded Out. Tho troops in camp at Liverpool were flooded out, the wholo camp being under water. At Bankstown the water backed against the railway, and took possession of a number of houses. A couple of families took refuge on tho roof?, and rescuers on a raft took them off. ( Other families spent tho night on tables, refusing to abandon their furniture. At Campbelltown the floods caused serious damage to houses and shops. Much live stock perished. Rough Time at Sea. Tho steamer Queensland, from Mei ■bourne to Newcastle, anchored off Wilson's Promontory, broken down. She asked for immediate assistance. Several coastal vessels are overdue. It is supposed they are sheltering. Those arriving report having had & rough handling. The Brookvalo/reports that a mast and part of a derrick-are sticking out of the water on the Long Reef, near Manly. Investigation of a possible disaster will be made at daylight. SOME NARROW ESCAPES,

FURNITURE FLOATS AWAY. STRANGE SCENES IN THE SUBURBS. (Rec. March 10, 9.20 p.m.) Sydney, March 10. Many city and suburban shops and warehouses have suffered severely through storm-water percolating roofs and inundating basements. The theatres emptied in the middle of a deluge, and it was an unusual sight to see richly-dressed women taking off their shoes and stockings and wading in tho flooded streets to reach the trams. At Bondi the dammed flood waters swept through tho lower bedrooms, where a man and- several waitresses were sleeping. Tho man escaped, but tho women took refuge on the heavier pieces of furniture, the lighter pieces of 'which were carried aiva.v by tho rush of the water, which wns several feet deep. One woman climbed up the verandah, and the others were' rescued with difficulty. Manly fared badly. Tho reads were torn up, and many houses damaged around the Lagoon, and at. Manly Vale' the houses were deeply inundated, so that the furniture was floating in the rooms. Tho poultry-farmers were great losers. A Man Drowned. A man. named Waters, wns washed out of a nioior-bnnt. moored at tho wharf, and drowned. The sea was so rough that the would-be resellers were unable to reach him. At Sylvnnin, St. George's River, four girls had a sensational escape. The house in which I hey were sleeping was unroofed. and 111? debris Smashed the beds where the girls were sleeping. They were, however, practically unhurt. On the low lands around Marrickvillc mid Cncili's River ran ly ne»it MinttrTM . furniture and household belongings swept

from tho houses, together with dead poultry, cats, and dugs. A number ot horses were also drowned, Tho roof of a house at Como was lifted bodily, and carried half a mile and deposited in the river. At Annandalo a couple were penned in a house by the flood-water. Tho husband escaped by a window, carrying his sick wife. Clifton Hotel Wreck. When tho roof of the Imperial Hotel at Clifton was carried on to on adjoining building, whero a woman and an infant were sleeping, the ceiling of the room collapsed, except just over the bed. The woman and child lay still till they were rescued. The guests at the hotel were smothered in an avalanche of plaster and broken glass, but none were injured. Two had left their bedroom just before the tornado struck the hotel, and on returning upstairs l'ound that a chimney stack hail fallen and had smashed to atoms tho beds on which, in ordinary circumstances, they would have been sleeping. In a second house which the hotel , roof struck, whero a man and his wife and child were sleeping, the weight of the debris jambed the doors, and they had great difficulty in escaping, their danger being increased by falling wreckage. At tho height of the gale in Sydney the wind velocity was GG miles for a few minutes after midnight. Eaili fell at the rate of 900 points an hour. After anchoring till morning, the steamer Queensland resumed her voyage to Newcastle. Owing to tho washaways on the line 9, four . Newcastle colliery pits were temporarily thrown idle. The storm is now over Gippsland, wherelieavy rains are falling. The gale struck a big navvies' camp oif the Illawarra line in the early hours of Sunday morning, and swept away all the tents, ; leaving hundreds of men shivering for hours in torrential rain. The search for wreckage at Longreef has not resulted in the discovery of any disaster. The damage to Mrs. M'Cathie's drapery stock during tho storm totalled JMOOO.