BAD FLOODS

Hokitika Guardian, 19 June 1930, Page 5

BAD FLOODS

WORST FOR 17 YEARS

(Australian Press Association)

(Received this day at 8 a.m.)

Sl r DNEY, June 18

r J he North Coast floods are the worst for 17 years. It is still raining. Raymond Terrace, near Newcastle, reports 22in. of rain in forty-eight Hours. Cattle were drowned in hundreds, and crops and orchards ruined. More people have left • their homes. Some towns are isolated owing to telegraph breakdowns. No loss of life is so far reported.

IvAPONGa’S rough trip

SYDNEY, July 18. riie New Zealand' collier, Kaponga, reached Newcastle this afternoon. She is the first vessel to enter or leave port since Monday afternoon. She took seven days for her trip from Wellington, wliicu i,s one usually occupying o), days. She ran into a gale 550 miles off Newcastle, the wind sometimes attaining a velocity of 60 miles an hour. The ship was only lightly loaded, which saved her from, serious damage. The waves frequently broke right over her.

Captain Whiteford and Chief Officer Everington. stood continuous watches during the storm. They only sighted one other vessel, the Alveric, which is now standing off Newcastle.

The Ivapon'gtt’s officers agree that it was the worst' gale they had met for ten years,’ but when the ship berthed they were more interested in the test cricket scores _ than in the telling of tiieir own experiences.

HUNTER RIVER RISES 40 FEET.

SYDNEY, June 18

Hunter River lias now risen forty feet at Singleton, where the racecourse is five feet under water. All of the roads to Newcastle have been blocked, and no trains are running north or south out of the coal capital.

(Received this day at 11 a.m.7 SYDNEY, June 19

Although the position in the northern flood area is critical and property ilamage is extensive, the weather bureau forecasts the possibility of more floods. Heavy rain is still falling generally, and serious floods are inevitably in the Manning and Hunter areas.

The damage in the Maitland and Wyong districts is enormous, in Maitland many people were rescued by flood boats. The water was 3ft. over the floor in some houses. The, cries of o’ne distressed mother, who was nursing a sick baby, was heard by rescuers who smashed flip windows and lowered the pair by ropes into a boat. Another case was that of a v omau standing in water up to her armpits when rescued. The water is now entering the shops of the main street at Maitland.

At Patterson a great disaster threatens. The river is up 36ft. Scores of people have left their homes at Morpeth. Flood boats are doing gallant work. Thousands of acres of crops in these districts have been ruined.

SEVERE EARTHQUAKE

FOLLOWED BY TIDAL "WAVE.

SYDNEY, June 18

A Port Moresby message states that during a severe earthquake two small coral islands arose out of the sea near Fisherman Island. A huge tidal wave followed the quake and twelve natives were drowned when their camps were swamped.