DISASTROUS FLOODS IN NEW SOUTH WALLS.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2194, 19 May 1870, Page 2

DISASTROUS FLOODS IN NEW SOUTH WALLS.

The Flood at Maitland. (From the Special. Reporter of the Sydney Empire.) I managed to reach Maitland hy about half-past I‘2 o’clock yesterday (Thursday, April 28), and found that the sights which presented themselves to my gaze on walking through the town absolutely beggared and baffled description. Such scenes of misery, destruction, and distress, it has never been my lot to Witness before, and sincerely cm 4 hope and trust it never may again. The telegrams which were published in the papers! on Tuesday and Wednesday, although they ■will have given old residents of the town same idea of the damage done, do not ade quately pourtray the scenes of desolation which actua’ly exist. The whole place appears as though it had recently been visit d by an earthquake with a flood on the top of it. When 1 left Maitland on Monday night last, the river had not overflowed any of the embankments, and although it was a great height, many of the most disast'ous effects of the inundation were so fir averted ; but during Monday night the swollen waters rose and rose, until at length thej' attaiuedaheight some inches in excess of any previous ffood, bursting over nearly all the embankments, and carrying in their melancholy train desolation, and loss, and misery to many score households. The Hunter, in West Maitland, reached the highest point—about 84ft. bin. high—between 1 and 2 o’clock a.m. on Tuesday, when it remained st itionary for two or three hours, and then began slowly to recede. It was about the time that the waters were at their maximum height that the greatest amount of damage was" done, apd that house ;\ftcr house ip'flia Horseshoe Bend was swept away by the re. morseless current. . . , When I state that between 15 and 20 houses have been washed away in one street alone, some conception— although a very imperfect cuemay he formed of the amount of damage done and distress created. Hie scene, as I threaded my way through the labyiiuths of broken fences, tumble-down houses, and desolated gardens, was perfectly appaling, and appeared to tlu ill and awe every beholder. Although well acquainted with the locality, my geography was wholly at fault, and I was compelled to accept the pilotage of a friend.

Besides the houses actually washed away, a considerable number were injured to such an extent, as to render them quite unfit for habitation. What these poor houseless people will do I don’t know, nor can 1 imagine. Unless they are promptly relieved, some of them will assuredly die of starvation and anxiety. I was informed by a resident of the locality that about 90 persons were left houseless by the remorseless waters, all of whom were conveyed to places of safety.