The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)(about) |
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Monday 31 January 1887
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TEE FLOODS IN BRISBANE.
(FHOII ODS COHRESPOW-NT.)
BUISBiJIE, JAN. 25.
I told you in my last letter that we bad en jo) ed unusually cool weather up to the new j ear I arly in the preaent month, however, the beat began to increase. At first it was of the ordinary kind Each day the sun a ra) a were tempered bj the cool north eastsenbree/c and the nights were pleasant Then a chango set in The thermometer recorded no ' ery reinaik ible temperatuie, but the cb irncter of the beat began to alter 1 he air was full of moiBture the yvurmth was pros
tratmg, and tropical in its character ] ven at night when the breeze lulled, the air was heavy and oppressive, and cver)thius indi cated the near upproach of the wet season An "old fashioned wet season, the old resi
dents announced, would be upon us speedily , and they were right On thursday last the ram began, and in the usual way YY e had constantsbowers nndasteamyheatprevuiled 'jins, however, waa m nccordance with the usual liishion of a Queensland we«.season, and wc all looked forward with plenaurable nntici pitionstoaspeedy low enngof the temperature INO one expected what was coming Mr Clement Wrngge, the newly appointed nieteorolo-ieul observer, told ua something about a centre of depression, but yve nie not learned in meteoroloky here, mid have no ver) definite iden of whnt centres of depres mollinean Until the hist month our only olhcinl ucord was kept by an eas) going (,entleuian who supplemented Ins business income b) tabulating the weather reuorts at Btated inti rials nnd never troubled himself or ua about tile approneh ot aerial disturb
unces
As da) break on 1 rnlay morning np prunched n steady rain set in, and earl) in the lorenoon Mi Y\rii-ge issued a warning to vessels in port that it would be dangerous
to put to sea Hie warning yvas hardly needed, for by that time the cyclone yvas upon us Hie wind blew with (.rent force, driving the heav) ram before it in blinding sheets As the day wore on the wind increased m in tensity, and the downpour of ram never ceased Nevcitheless, there was less damage done hy the wind in the tovn itself than I have known to be occasioned by étonna which attracted little attention YY hellier the actual wcirlit of falling water dulled the loree ot the gale, or whether the worst of the storm passed at some little distance lrom town, I do not know, but, except the destruc tion of a few ornamental trees, the damaging of a lew roofs, and the wreck of some pleasure boats driven from the moorings of the Brisbane Boating Club no great harm was done 'Hie householders who occupied milmed weatherboard houses suffered be cause the heavy rain, driven by the wind penetrated every chink and cranny On the coast the wind did moat diminue Ihe captain of a vessel which attemp ted to round Cape Moreton on 1 n day morning, and was compelled to put to sen caine in to day, and reported that he had gone through the severest gale he had ever evpenenced His vessel wns on her broadsides half the time, the spraj flying in sheets over ever) thing I ven in the abel tered water of the bay the wind raised a frightful nea, and the usuall) placid shore oi Sandgate was beaten by great waves that sent clouds of spray over the bouses and did much damage to tue esplanade, the bathing houses, and other " water improvements of a nourishing sea side resort So far, however, I have heard of no maritime disaster, and I supposa that the area of the storm nt sea could not have been great
Ihe rain continued all Trida), though the wind lulled as evening approached But the falling away of the w ind brought no break in the downpour The rain fell m a steady torrent and near nightlnll heavier clouds lind peals of thunder heralded the approach ol what I ma) call the reserve force of the storm lhere was a momtntar) break just after dar] then the torrents came down again continuing throughout the night, and at 'I a m on bnturda) the record for the 24 hours was 18\in No such rainfall has b en experienced in Brisbane during the 2r> )enrs for which we have records. As heavy rain has fallen in the tropics on some occasions, but never before south of Rockhampton so far as is known, and there can be no doubt of the accuracy of this record, for the gauge at an amateur meteoro logical station which has been maintained for man) years in the suburb of Bulimba, showed, within a few points, the same rpsult ns the Government Observatory on Y\ickhnm terrace When dny dawned on Saturda) morning the town presented a sorrj sight 'I he high grounds were all right, of course, hut every piece of low 1) ing ground was a Bheet of yvaler \Y e have some imperfect drains, but there was no provision for carr) mg off a foot and a half of ram in 24 hours Every little creek vv Inch came down from tho hilly country that lies round Brisbnne waa a roaring torrent, and as the day w ore on the rain "enmedown 1 ortunately the ram at Ipswich yvns only half as heavy as in Bris bine, and I fane) that the rainfall on the ranges at the head of the Brisbane and its ninni affluent the Bremer, though heavy pnough, fell fur short of the yvnterapout w hich carne down in Brisbane on our devoted heads Still it was henv) enough, and the river rose rnpldl), bringing down logs and drift
wood, the turbid stream roaring hoarsely as it poured between the iron supports, of th" ^ letona bridge The rising waters backed np the Hoods m the creeks, und deepened the lal esthnthud formed on thelow l)ing parts of the town In South Brisbane ouo man yvas actuall) drowued throuch Ina foolhaidiness m bathing on an niloc cupied allotment and taking a rash "header in lOlt of water1 Hie river rose all Saturday and Sunda), reaching a maximum of lift qui OK r the highest spring tide 1 hose who know Brisbane, and the "teat breadth of the river in the town rinches, can jud^e the volume of wnler re quired to produce such a rise I very wharf was covered, though none ot them to any grout depth, and all loading and unloading of eirgo wns, of course Btopped lhere YVIIS not, however, any ver) great damage done to gooda, because the sheds were not nil reached, and there yvna time to remove moat ol IhegoodB be) ond the water level Of course the 'uneniplojed rose to the occasion At Messrs Parbury Lambs whurt a number of men congregated and demanded JS nu hour for assisting in the removal of goods, they ultimately accepted 2s J he force of the cur rent waa so great that the vessels in the reaches had to tain most extraordinär) pre cautions to nvoid being swept nwnj, nhill it was impossible to ascend the jtrenm aboye the straight reaches below Bulimba 1 von so lately asjesterday (Mon da))evening the Barrabool went ashore in attempting to round a bend into the Bulimba reach, and two of her crew were drowned while attempting to curry out an anchor in a small boat which capsired 1 he steamer herselt suffered no liijurj lins occurred neai the month of Breakfast Creek, the most considerable of the streams fall mg into the Umbaue near town Those who know Brisbane will remember the creek wlueii enters the river between two pri tt) yvooded rises the first of the high ground noticed us Brisbane is nppronched 'I he creek rose to a great height and the lands in its Yicimtj, most!) estates, sold during the recent land mania, and purtl) occupied b) yvorkmen s cottages, were coyered The bridge at the mouth of the creek re mamed passable during nearly the whole time but another bridge, lu.her up, w nscovcicd BO deeply that it was gencinlly supposed to hi destrojpd, and all communication with the ontljnig eubuib be)omi it was tut ofl
Here there were some loss ol life and man) narrow escapes One man named 1 crguson lenshcd m the attempt to su im lrom one point to another and a Chinaman los. Ina life in a really heroic attempt to
seize n pig that floated by lum 1 hunks howover, to the gnlliinti) of the noighboura 'and of the police the famihea lnhabitine the
flooded landa were rescued Sub inspector Durham, who wns directing the rescuing
parties, did j eumana aery ice by riding j throuijh the yvater and carrying people oil on his saddle and yvhen his hôrae
was swept away from a house which j
he had reached lie strapped the last re mailling child to his back and swam ashore with it On the whole there has been surprisingly little loss of life, und some of the deaths were only indirectl) due to the flood 1 he mun drowned in South Brisbane while bathing in a Hooded allotnunt is a case in point, and three little girls who started oil to go to Sunda) School and have not since been heard of must have gone down to the flooded grounds to gratify their
cunosit)
On 11 idnv night we were cut off from com munication with the outside world, for every tclcgriph line was interrupted As communi cation is being restored we hear of disasters in nil directions Ihe fertile valley of the South Pines River, a Bmall stream falling into Moreton Buy a few miles noi th ot the Brisbane, lins been swept and most oi the funnels on it arc ruined 1 rom the district surrounding Ips wich tales of destruction by Hood are coming m Theie is nothing special m these nurra tives-indeed, there l8 a certain saddening monoton) in the story of homesteads wrecked and crops dcstro)ed Ihe ruin was so heavy that the Hoods carne down with unexpected suddenness, and there has been some loss of life One selector started off in the mc,ht leading hi3 family through the rising waters to reach bighei ground A iloatinc, log struck bira, and dashed the two children he was carr) ing out of luac/asp, the mother and (.randmotber also penshed Here ns elsewhere, we do not)et know the total IOBS of life But the worst accounts are to be expected from the Logan, a, large river falling into Moreton Bay, South oi Brisbane Up to the time of writing we are still with out definite particulars-the telegraph lines are submerged, the railway traffic entirely suspended Men have come in, however, with terrible stones '1 he river rose, BO ive are told 12ft above the highest level recorded since the district was occupied, nearly 40 )cirs ago I arma have been swept bare, houses wrecked, and, even as I write there are scores of unhnpp) people, cut off from all food and assistance, huddled together in snell temporär) skelter ns they could find We onl) know ot what has happened on the Lower Logan Con cernnig ils aflluent the Coomiro, and the districts be)ond we are still in blank ignorance This fact alone will indicate the over« helming nature of the deluge which has descended on the unfortunate residents in what is for Queensland, a thickly peopli d district I very much fear there has been great loss of life in those districts We baie heard of some deaths already, but we have heard so little «is )ot
I rom the accounts that have come it would appear that the ci clone expended its chief loree in the district around Brisbane and between the main range and the sea To the north of us there was heavy, but not exeep tionally heavy rain '1 he Mar) river " came down and produced a Hood nt Gympie, hut not a Hood of ali) great magnitude Taking a line due west from here it is found that at 'loowomba the rain was onl) heav), while at Dalby it was represented by light showers 1 lie track of the storm inland was to the south of the line indicated, for at Warwick the Condamine Itivei rose sud denly during the night, Hooding the town, and causing much damage A)oung lady was drowned at I mu vale station, in the vicinity, and there has been a considerable loss of stock Of course the railwa) lines have suffered severely Indeed I hesitate to repeat the rather wild cetimutes current as to the money value of the damage done Passenger traflic ba3 only just been restored, and is still carried on with diflicult) and by transporting pnsBen gcrs from train to train across dangerous places Sir Samuel Grifliths part), who started on their journey overland to the south on lriday afternoon lind a very bad time of it A little bejond Ipswich his train was stopped-the flood waters coveung the line betare and behind their Bpccial train However, they struggled on, and managed to reach Stanthorpe ) esterda) lo day we hear that they havo safel)
reached lenterfield, having been carried ' in waggons to a Hooded creek on this Bide of the town, and transported across it with all their luggage, on improvised rafts Their journey was very much in the track of the storm-hence the dilliculty they e\ penenced
In conclusion, I ma) sa) th it so far as I
Brisbane is concerned the flood is over The river has subsided and the creeks have run down lor water we have sheets of mud, which are seething under the hot sun One horrible incident oi the flood was the swamp ing of the manure depot where all the filth of the town is buried Your readers can imagine what happened when I state that the whole place was converted into a foul lagoon and that Oft of water covered the ground whence lill Brisbane is supplied with "dry earth ' Our usual summer rams arc bench cial, they keep every watercourse running, and supplement our very crude mid imperfect sanitary arrangements But the present wholesale distribution of filth over all the low grounds of the town cannot fail to have a bad effect, especially if wo have a spell of hot, dry weather Relief parties are Btarting out for the Loyin, and preparations are on foot for organising subscriptions in aid of the Bufferers by the inundations