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TilK LATE RAINS.
THE FLOODS.
The present season has been the wettest
m the xecoUection of the .oldest' colonist
now lirwg. When the la<rt mail left we
reported .having experienced no fewer than
fire distiaat floods, and at the tima of
writing a sixth prevails, larger than any
of its predecessors. Melbourne and Bal
jarat. have already suffered severely from
its effects j other towns in the colony have
been flooded out; the rivers are overrunning
their banks in every direction; bridges and
culverts have been swept away; property
has been ruined, and crops spoiled, and we
are afraid we shall still hear of many lives
being lost by the suddenness the rise
m the- rivers." Owing to the situation
or (this town, the people of Geelone
have reason to be thankful that they
have escaped the perils to which so many
of their fellow-colonists hare been exposed
Although, however,- the flood has not en
dangered life , and properly in - the . town
itself, it has been the means of doing much
mischief in the-suburbs,, more especially
those on the low-lying land traversed by
the river Barwon. On Wednesday rain
began to. fall in this locality, being preceded
in the early morning by a violent storm of
wind anddust. The downpour continued
without intermission during the whole of
the day jS"ext morning we learned, from
the . iiallarat and.' Melbourne papers of tfie*
tremendous downpour, that had been ex
perienced there, - and telegram after tele
gram - from 13allar.it warned manufac
turers on the banks of the Barwon
here _of what they might expect. This
was fortunate, in so far that they were
enabled to make preparations. The river
overflowed on Thursday, and-then agam
receded, leading; many to believe that all
danger was past. These forgot that the
comparatively small flood of tfae day had
been caused by the receipt of the storm
waters from the immediate district, ttn i
that the Ballarat surplus bad umi had tim
time to arrive.- At about eight p.m the
river again began'to ri^e with extraordinary
rapidity, and at six o'clock on Fridtiv
morning it Must have been ten feet above'
the ordinary level, and so it continued for
five or six hour?, hay, fences, barrels, bales
ocwoo!, and other .-vidences of civilization
being carried down m the muddy stream
showing that considerable damage ha:I been
done in the country through which the river
winds to.the sea. j^umingit to be ten feet
above the ordinary level, it is nearly five
feet,.higher, than the level'attained by any
previous_ flood this season, and nearly three
feet mgher than on the day the news
arrived of the wreck of the ill-fated Vic
toria To^er, in October last. There are
some persons,; and old colonists , too,1 who
assert that the flood is within a foot or two
' of, .t^le great flood in
May,.'1852, but .this, 'apparently' i> a
mistake.' The flood in 1852, as may
be ,«eir ; by .old . limbs of tree's
fixed ;high_ in the branches of eucalypti
still standing on the banks of the river
near Fyansford, rose to a height of seven
teen feet above the ordinary level. As a
further proot.that such was the case can be
obtained from Mr Levien,"whose property
is situate on the river. This gentleman has
a mark shewing the height in'1852, and it
is about seven or eight feet higher than the
river ha* been this year. Again, in, 1852
the late Captain Pyaus had at last to climb
into the stable-loft to avoid being drowned,
his house in the bend of the river being
literally full of water, and there he
anxiously. waited for some time until
rescued from his perilous situation by Mr
David Fisher and another gentleman: In
this flood the water has only come to
within a few inches of the ground floor.of
the residence. On Friday the custodian of
Queens Gardens, Mr Searl, had barely
time to get his wife wrapped up in a
blanket and placed in a comparatively safe
position in a wattle tree, and then climb
along with a labourer on to the top of a
fence on rising ground, before his house
was full of water," and in this position the
trio remained all night. Their cries for
assistance were heard by Mr Levien, juur.,
who was on the other side of the river, hut.
he never dreamt of a flood, and attributed
the noise he heard to anything but the
right cause. At '.six o*clock,: however, he
perceived the danger, and at once despatched
a messenger to the police, but before they
arrived with their boat Mr and Mrs Searl
and the man (whose name we did hot hear")
had been rescued by parties from Fyans
ford. _ The Queen's bridge, . just below
Air, lievien's, which could not i long
withstand the heavy pressure . that was
brougnt to bear against it, was early
swept away, and last eviening a few > spars
juttmgjout of the waterhereand there were
all that remained to show where the struc
ture had been. The beams of which it
was composed were carried down alon<*
with other ruin, and struck with great
.force against the supports of Prince Albert
Bridge in the bend of the river, and it was
feared would earry that bridge away also.
In fact, a report was circulated during the
day that the Prince "Albert bridge was
cracking, and must inevitably give' way
)Vhen our reporter visited it he found that
it was as sound as ever. . In the evemn" it'
appeared sate. Close to it,'.however, ap
peared a scene of desolation. The water
had almost reached the basement floor,of
the late Captain Fi'ans's residence,' and
Miss Fyani and the household, who had
no idea of . their danger until seven or eight
o'clock, had« removed to " the refuge,"
a name given, to. a small cottage \ built
on-,; an s elevated . portion vof i the estate.
The weigb-bridgc and toll-house were two
or-three feet deep in water, which extended
somcdistanee up the road. The tanneries
belonging to Mr Pearson and Mr Davies
were submerged; whereby a great lost has
been entailed; and the Chinamen's"'
garden, which is one of our "chief-sources
of supply in the hot, summer months, was
hidden .by. at broad. sheet of water; over
jjvhichj a: solitary boatman paddled ?about;4
:probably striving to save as much as possible"
from the adjoining. tanneries. Proceeding.!
down the river, the lower road and flit on
the. South Barwon side, .as well as -the
: greater - portion of the garden belonging
to Mr Richardson, M.L.A., were in the.
same predicament as the tanneries, and we'
heard that Mr Meakin, a small farmer on
the flat, had had a number of pigs and all
his hay carried away. Opposite Mr
Richardson's garden stands the Albion
Woollen Cloth Factory, and at one time it.
was feared that great damage would here be
inflicted, tfie water being within six inches
of. the engine fires. Fortunately, it went
no higher, and although work had to be
stopped. for the day, beyond a few loads
ot firewood being washed away, and the
wool-drying framework in the river getting
entangled with debris, no further injury
was done. After leaving Mr Richardson's
thfe river spread out on the flat between his
garden and the approaches to the bridge,
eddying about until it glided under the
iron bridge, the successor to the old wooden
affair carried away in 1852. On the Mother
(side of the bridge it inflicted an injury that
will be generally regretted. When we
stated in our previous issne that the mem
bers of the Bsrwon Rowing Club had
made everything as secure as possible,
we imagined they had taken their
boats away from the shed on the
banks of the river to some place
of safety. ' It appears, however, they were
advised not to do so by some residents, who
ridiculed the idea of any flood injuring the
boat-shed. The result was that the build
ing wa« iil'ted by . the strong current
unit carnal ilrnvn some fifty or sixty yards,
and it is feared that all the fine new boats
which have been purchased at great ex
pense, have been more or less, damaged,
The newi spread quickly, and doling the
day the scene of the disaster was visited :bi
hundreds of people, who. deeply sym
pathised with the, member* of this lately
estab'isbed club, whose matches during the
next few months were expected to make
the river one of our most attractive places
of resort The secretary, Mr Lascelles,
had a number of men engaged daring the
day unroofing the shed, for the purpose of
rescuing the boats, and preventing the
| building, in the event of its collapsing after
the waters have receded, smashing the
valuable property inside, but at five o'clock
the extent of damage done had not been
ascertained. There was, however, ample
evidence to show that Mr Shannon's fine
new outrigger had been destroyed. With
the exception of a few small ! patches
here and there, on some of which hoirsas
and cattle couldjbe seen waiting their doom,
which at one time appeared inevitable,
the whole of the Belmont common .was
under water, which extended right up to
Mr Reid's mill. The : residence; of- Mr
Wright, the jeweller, was surrounded, ;and
between 6 and 7 a.m. Councillor Veitcb,
constable Ca=ey, and Mr Hinchcliff pro
ceeded there in a boat and brought off; the
children and servants. The flood did not
rise high enouqh to do any great damage
to the residence, and Mr Wright was
quickly in attendance to watch over his
property. At about twelve o'clock a rather
ludicrous incident occurred here. The
5®*" P* Y.Price had been visiting Mr
W right, and was returning to the shore in
a.treacherous "flat-bottom," when theeraft
capsized,^ and the rev. gentleman was
pitched into three or four feet of water.
Other, houses below Mr Wright's were
invaded, but no very great damage done
The water never reached the Victorian
Woollen Factoiy. The water getting
on to the police paddock surrounded
the elevation on which the establish
men is erected, and almost cut off
all connection with the higher land, buj
never entirely surrounded it. In this bend
of the river numbers of poor people could
-he seen collecting timber, casks, etc., and
among other things found .was a case ot
kerosene, casks of wine, and, strange t o sav,
a boot full of butter. AH work was 'sus
pended at-the fellmongery establishments
j lower down. - Mr Lowe's house was flooded
so quickly;that the inhabitants had barely
time to escape, and Mrs Lowe has been
rendered seriously ill by the fright.
Men in boats could be seen looking out to
save anything that might be washer] out.
The owners of these establishments, bow- j
ever, had taken time by the forelock, and |
prepared for the coming event. Further
particulars will doubtless be forthcoming
but the greatest danger to be feared is from
the immense amount of sludge that will be
deposited as the waters recede,- as they
were thickly charged with-mud. During
the day accounts arrived' showing that the
residents on the Moorabool had been equal
sufferers With thow on the UlrTOi.
Messrs Weber, Baker, Madden, llvnecker
land others, had to seek other p'aies of
re luge, their own homes being submenu}.
Looking from the Railway Viaduct, "the
view presented the appearance of a small
lake, the whole valley from Mr Mill's west
ward and Mr Wuttrich's vineyard, north
of the viaduct, and onward, to Uatesford
being one sheet of water. Many of the
residents of the township of liatesf'ord,
Mr Bttmes* among them, had to
leave, some coming into town, others
taking advantage of the hispitality of their
Imore fortunate neighbours. Connewarre
at least the lower portion of that district
I w under water, and much damage; has
been done to the. crops, some of which
had already been sown twice; this season,
i I he following information has been kindly
supplied to us by Mr Vines, of the Western
btage Company« The mail coach from
Belfast, which left for Geelong at ten p m.
on Thursday, had to return to Warrnam
boo! early, on Friday morning, the Hop.;
kins river and Cudgee creek beingi im
passable: .'Six feet of water.was then run
ning above the old level of the old bridge
at Allansford, which is;supposed to be
washed away, and the new bridge is not
yet in a condition to be used. The
UarrnambooL and: Belfast mails for
Melbourne and . Geelong were forwarded
on Friday by a .steamer which happened
|f, P"1Warrnambool. The mails"from
"^k jHiyer, aud intermediate post towns
to Geeldng, arrived as usual.. The roads'
throughout are in a frightful condition,
many culverts being washed away.
[BY ELBCTEIC TjjLroiiAPir.] ;
(FKOM OUB OWN COREKSl'ONDBST.) '
; . LNGLEWOOD, Friday.
- '1 here have been immense floods in and
around_ this neighbourhood, and most of
the bndgc-s-are carried away, whilst those
?. at are left bave been'so damaged as,-to be
impassable. We hare had ho mail for two
days, and all communication is stopped
.there has never been such floods known
] here before.'
. I. MARIS IRODGH. Friday.
- The floods are. now subsiding both here
and at .Talbot, Maldon, Avoca, and other
i places, and .traffic is being resumed. The
I damage done in the districts named- is very
great. . , : i f ??
" mi; " a BEECHWORTH, Friday.
. The floods here have been unpreeedently
-se\ ere. , The coaches have: been stopped in
consequence of the bridges being destroyed.
WAKHNAMBOOL, Friday. '
There an; heavy floods in all the rivers,
and all traffic is stopped in consequence of
the damage done to the roads and bridges.
The mails from Geelong have not arrived
The engineer of the Panmure flour-mills
has; been drowned. - "
. BENALLA, Friday.
. The floods here are excessive.
(PKR GllEVILLE's TEIIEGBAM COMPANY.)
. WARRXAMBOOL, Sept: 9. 1
A heavy flood , in 'the Cudgee Creek this
morning, ,r prevented the 'coach with the
mails i for Melbourne proceeding, arid the
.English mails will, therefore, be forwarded
by the steamer Western/which sails for
Melbourne this afternoon."
?. ' hp M?rri, Creek- and -the Hopkins are
both much. flooded, and several bridges
have been injured. It is doubtful whether
tbe Melbourne, mail will arrive here this
afternoon," on account of the floods.'- I
6 r.M.-^All accounts agree that the
fl **rc highest ever known since the
country was settled. Mail communication
.?vuth Melbourne is. stopped, at liivers, the
Hopkins, and the Cudgee A man named
.,veprge llingstone has rheeu drowned; at
Cudgwe, and--ii\o otlu-r lives are reported
asi lost there, but the particulars are uot yet
. *9-. W* - A; liorse-, and dray ." were swept I
into , the rHopkins, ' at Allansford; 5 The I
driver escaped, but the horse was drowned^'
The Merrf Creek is flooded; and several'
bridges are in;danger.;'..The rain "still con-' !
tinues ti} fall, but lighter than it did.< The I
worst seems now-to bt over.'
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