TERRIBLE FLOODS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9695, 20 January 1910, Page 5

TERRIBLE FLOODS.

DEVASTATION IN AUSTRALIA. f MORE DEATHS REPORTED. United Press Assoc at on—By Eleotrio elegrapb Copyright. Received January 19, 11.5 a.m. SYDNEY, Jnuary 19. Belated reoorts which are coming to hand from the uooaed districts " show that in many cases the water : was higher than had ever been previously known. The devastation is widespread, and is greater than was at first anticipated. Later reports as to the Wee Waa 3 fatality state tha 4 ; besides the four , names already mentioned, a police--1 man, and t*o other men who were in the capsized boat were drowned. 3 Communication with Wee Waa is I not yet established. Two relief boats left Gunnedah for Wee Waa, and reached Boggabri, a journey of forty miles. The whole course of the river was a scene of devastation. Dead sheep and other animals were floating and were piled ' everywhere. Here and there patches of high land standing out of the flood ' were crowded with still living animals. 1 Dozens of homes, half submerged and abandoned, were dotted along 1 both sides of the river. The boats still have a long perilous journey to make before reaching 1 Wee Waa, where the worst is now over. The water is fallinsr, but it will be some days before it has sufficiently cleared to enable the full extent of the damage to be ascertained. Many settlers and homesteads are still isolated. In the area between Narrabri and Boggabri*alone it is calculated that one hundred thousand sheep perished. At Narrabri people took refuge j in two-storey buildings, the water invading all business places and residences. Some spent two days in the roofs with a short supply of food. Numerous narrow escapes are re- ! ported. Many settlers lost everything. A • large number of people are destitute. The Government is providing efficient • relief where necessary. It is now reported that to men, n: nisd Yeomans and Reynolds, lost their lives. Received January 19, 11.55 p.m. SYDNEY Jan uary 19. The reason for the magnitude of ' the flood a3 that the rain fell uniformly and was heavy over the entire j watershed, the riverj rising simul- | taneously. The streets and houses | in the towns where the floods has re- | ceded are in a terrible state with i slush, debris, and dead animals, i i The Namoi and Barwon rivers ; are rising rapidly, and still enormous bodies of water come down. » Dalgety and other towns along the , lower reaches are preparing for big , floods. The extent of the damage to the 3 railways can be gathered from the , fact that forty washaways have oc- > curred between Inverell • and Delungra, a distance of 25 miles, t and many smaller bridges have col--1 lapsed. A blackfellow waa rescued after floating for two days on a log. A widow and four children were rescued'when the water was up to the wo i.an's armpits as she stood on a - table.