SYDNEY FLOODS.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 May 1925, Page 2

SYDNEY FLOODS.

iCKTKALIAN AND N.Z. CABO* ASSOCIATION. FAMILIES CASH- odT. SYDNEY, May 29. Waggn is now ill the full grip of the ** flood, which is steadily increasing in volume. The upriver water has been pouring down, all day ami gradually in vailing tlie streets. The afternoon report states that a large part of the town, including the whole of North Wagga, is already under water. Streams many feet deep are in lung through kMiiio of the -inwts. ami lots of the main business plai c.s are .*nbmerged for four, live to six feet. Hugo pieces of debris has smashed the Hood barricades erected in front of the shops doing serious damage. The people were warned in time, and owing to the gradual rise in tho water, they were enabled to vacate houses, and to stow most of their belongings safely before lieing driven out.

Rescuing and salvage work, assisted by ;t good supply of boats, proceeded actively throughout last night and to-day, and it continues as the «n----eoaehment progresses. Two hundred families from Xorth Wangs. and mil tile houses on the high levels are trammed with refugees. Several thousand people have been driven from their homes. The racecourse park is deep under the flood. The .swirling river is carrying past the town the bodies of cattle, pigs, and horses in large numbers. A Citizens Relief Committee has teen formed for the purpose of :■ tending to the wants of the homeless.

Wokolemt. forty miles up the river, reported that the water reached its maximum at eleven o'clock this morning. and lias since fallen two feet. The bulk of tin's water has still to reach Wa.gea before its position eases. Meantime a rise of at least two feet is anticipated, which means that a further large area will suffer. Quea nboyau, Yass. Gundagai, and the other invaded towns, where the floods have largely .subsided, are a sorry spectacle. The houses are full of filth, the streets chokon with mmt ami filth and dead animals, and the damage is enormous everywhere.

At Gundagai it is estimated the r damage is one hundred thousand sterling. and at Yass, forty thousand sterling. This does not take account of the outlying districts, many of which are still cut off, and where the conditions and amount of damage aro unknown. Th,. losses of stock in the pastoral and farming areas is likely to he very heavy. The txxlics of two men drowned at Gundagai and Quoiinheyan, have been recovered. Luckily no further rain of consequence lists fallen in the flooded t areas, where communication is utter]v disorganised; the roads destroyed, sold the telegraph and telephone lines washed away and otherwise destroyed. *-» These dislocations are interfering with the transmission of the cable news from southwards. EFFECT OX KLKCTIOX. /Received this dav at 8 a.in.l SYDXF.Y, May 30. Advices from the flooded areas state the electors in a number of cases will not he able to reach the booths tomorrow. The returning officers have the option of not opening the booths under such conditions and it is probable that in these cases the voting will be postponed till a later date. Wagga reports the flood reached its highest at nine to-night. It then commenced to fall.