Twenty-Four Dead

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 631, 6 April 1929, Page 9

Twenty-Four Dead

TASMANIAN DISASTER

Wall of Water Over 50 Feet High (United P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright) (Australian and N.Z . Press Association)

Reed. 10.32 a.m. HOBART, To-day. THE) breaking of the Cascade Dam caused a greater disaster * than was at first feared. The total death roll due to the flood now numbers 24—14 at the BriseiS Mine and six drowned in a motor-car in the Cascade River. The river has made a new course 100 yards wide.

THE dead include a family of five who were having tea when the wall of water struck the house and carried it and its occupants away. The wall of water is estimated to have been between 50 and 100 ft high. Every bridge surrounding the township has been washed away and many cattle have been drowned. SIX OTHERS DROWNED Six persons, including two children, were drowned when a motor-car

plunged into the Gawler River, near Devonport, 82 miles north-west of Launceston. A baby was rescued from a tree. A Press Association message from Wellington says that Mr. M. Battersby, of Eastbourne, picked up a wireless message from 7ZL, Hobart, stating that disastrous floods had occurred in Tasmania, particularly in the northern district. Much loss of life and stock is feared. An important bridge was washed away. The Launceston-Hobart telegraph line is dislocated.