DISASTROUS FLOODS IN QUEENSLAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2462, 9 February 1893, Page 4

DISASTROUS FLOODS IN QUEENSLAND.

Sydney, Feb. 6.

Communication between Toowoomba and Brisbane is still interrupted. It is reported that a family named Gillick, numbering seven, have been drowned. By means of another line communication has been opened with Rockhampton. Hundreds of people are homeless at Bundaberg, and are sheltering in the churches and public buildings. There is appalling devastation in Maryborough. It is reported that a bridge collapsed, drowning thirty persons, but the report lacks confirmation. The town is in darkness, the gasworks being submerged, and hundreds of houses have been washed away. Granville is inundated. The schooner Marchioness of Lome drifted three miles, and Captain Suges was washed overboard and drowned. Some of the leading business premises are completely wrecked, and Howard Smith’s wharf, and Walter’s ship yards have been washed away. A man named Bell was drowned in Gympie. The main street is 30 feet under water.

Feb. 7. All the northern rivers are in flood, and much damage has been done to the maize at Clarence, while at Tweed nearly all the early maize has been ruined. There are no signs of the steamers which were expected to arrive from Brisbane to-day, and it is surmised that they have been unable to leave owing to the floods. If this surmise is correct no news will be received until railway or telegraphic communication is restored. A reporter on the Ipswich paper succeeded at great personal risk in making his way by boat through the flooded country to Brisbane and back. He says that there are 8 feet to 10 feet of water in Queen street, the principal thoroughfare in Brisbane, and 35 feet in Stanley street. Yictoria Bridge and Indooroopily railway bridge are destroyed, and from this cause alone the loss is £250,000. The gas and water supplies in the city are all cut off. Over five hundred houses have been washed away, and the Botanical Gardens are under water. There is terrible devastation in the vicinity of Breakfast Creek, and hundreds of families are camping in boats ? having been forced by the height of the water to leave their j homes. As far as is known at present only four persons have been drowned. Houses are lying about in the streets in every direction. The water is now receding. The Governor has reached Brisbane in safety. One firm, Messrs Wilson & Co., estimate their loss at £12,000, and the woollen factory at £4OOO. In many of the warehouses in the city the water is feet deep. The disaster is the most appalling history of Australia, Ipswich, Feb. 7. A man named- Jardine has been drowned in the floods. The whole country is an unutterable scene of desolation. In the Mary Valley hundreds of families aae homeless, and in cympm two hundred houses have been swept away. Rockhampton, Feb. 7. Eleven miles of railway have been washed away near here, Ho loss of life is reported. At Toowoomba the flood is steadily decreasing. At Ipswich there are terrible scenes of desolation, and the streets are in a frightful mess, emitting a horrible stench. The Governor has reached Ipswich. A fund for the relief of the sufferers has beeen started. The passengers by the Sydney train have been camped at Redbank since Friday, and provisions are being despatched to them by boat. A man named Heenau and his sister have been carried away in a boat at Goodna, and it is feared tnat they have perished. The Gilliack family are safe. Thorehole’s mine at Black stone, and Lindsay’s mine at Bundama have collapsed. The water has reached the top of the Catholic Church in Goodna, and houses are floating about in all directions. It is surmised that the whole country between Woolstone and Brisbane is one sheet of water. The train has arrived from Bisbaue, and brings news that the city is in a deplorable condition. Victoria Bridge, connecting North and South Brisbane has been destroyed, and Oxley Creek Bridge is also demolished. Several of the mines at Gympie are flooded.