FLOODS IN VICTORIA

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 137, 8 December 1930, Page 11

FLOODS IN VICTORIA

WHEATGROWERS SUFFER

WIDESPREAD DAMAGE

United Press Association—By Electric TeleSraph—Copyrights (Received Bth December, 3 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day.. Heavy downpours '^bf rain have been recorded in many places inland. 'Nelherby, in ihe Mallee country, reports seven inches, and Kinnabulla and Bculah over six inches. Crops have been seriously damaged. Railways are interrupted by washouts. Melbourne and suburbs are seriously affected. One thousand telephones have been put out of action. A horseman named O'Brien was droAvned while crossing the flooded Whitehead Creek, near Seymour. Many narrow escapes are recorded. Extensive damage has been done in Victoria by floods^) Practically the entire State has been drenched. The wheat crops in Mallee are under water, and floods are feared along the Campaspe River at Orbost, and other parts of Gippsland. Shops at Woodend were flooded out, and several suburbs have been inundated. The most serious floods were at Heidelberg and Kew, where a very large area of land is under water. Several railway bridges and culverts were destroyed, and the Sydney express was delayed for hours. No serious loss of live stock is reported, though many cattle are marooned. Harvesting operations received a severe set-back. The wheat losses are certain to be heavy. Earlier in the month it was estimated that the yield would amount to fifty million bushels. The heavy rain caused a postponement of inter-State tennis and the Moonee Valley races.