The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-07-26
Terrible Flood in Australia.
| \ private letter communicated to the
- Trihnne.l

lerflDle FI00d IN AuStralla.
y private letter CON @ unicsted to ia
4 Trihnue.]
Hlawsra District N. S. Wales, Marol
81, ie60-You may feel Interested il
knowing what calamity has befallcu tn
people of this part OF the globe W.
have recently had tropical torrents oI
rain, that were really fearful. But in
February the food gates of heaven seem
ed to be open, and all the fountain head,
OF the rivers seemed to have" burst theiI
bonds to overflow US. These district.
have been deyasted by one of the mos
fearful foods ever known in Australia
Life and property have been sacrificed tc
an extent truly appalling. The damage
done cannot be estimated. Whole fami.
lies,7 with every living thing on their
homesteads, crops and all, were swept
into the sea of the resistiess food, and no
one leitto tell what they have lost.
At Bells Greek diggings the claims
have all been filed. The poor miners
were wtirled away clear over a fall of a
thousand feet deep, at the bottom of which
the remains of many were found. No
one at the diggings escaped to tell bow
suddenly the waters came down upon
them, or of the gold that was lost One
little girl vas found alive in the region Of
Bells Creek, who had lost father, mother,
five brothers and sisters, aud home. All
that she possessed and loved 10 the world
were swept away In one night this poor
unfortunate was dashed down to. poverty
aud orphanage. The face of the country
is so changed that she cannot point out
the place where their house stood
Near the source of the Shoal Haven
River, at one point, the water was seen
to come rushing down upon the plains,
like vast pyramid. The river rose in a
few hours one hundred sect. The upland
fats we're like great lakes. On and on
swept the avalanche of waters in its des-
olstiDg path. An immense belt of rich
lycultiyated lands, smiling with plenty,
has been left like a ruined desert, filed
or covered with sand and rocks Hou-
ses, gardens, crops. cattle, horses, fences,
trees, soil, men, women, and children,
were swept over precipices, down through
valleys, aud on into the surging sea. aud
thrown back upon the coast in indescrib-
able confusion. For many miles The
shore was covered with the awful wreck.
Boats were rowed aud steamed over
where a town had stood, in endeavors to
save some OF the drowning people. who
had gone up to the tops OF the highest
buildings. In this way some we're res
cued just before their houses were swept
away. Some ofthese boats now staud
high and dr3 in the midst Of where the
town once stood The Shoal Haven riy-
er-bed mas been filed up The waters
haze found another cbaupel.
) Q I.lapd at the mouth of the Shoal
Haven was Inhabited BY about 80 fami-
lies, probably nearly 400 persons. The
people, seeing the waters rising up sud
denly ali around them fed to the highest
hills. Soon all they had was gone, and
the waters Kept creeping up after them
The people we're wonderfully preserved
A vessel at sea saw them, and sailed to
their relief. They Rere saved just before
the island vas submerged.
a great many Individual cases o. thrill
ling interest are related. Many a poor
mother sacrificed her life in Wild efforts to
save her poor children. One young man,
10 bis efforts to save bis mother, swan with
her tbro the food, and carried her across
an oyerfowsd field He struggled hard
to reach a place Of safety; be succeeded
ana laid bis treasure-his feeble mother
down. hut only 10 see her die. Ten minutes
after be had brought her to safe place,
she closed her eyes in death. a hay
stack Aoated down iu sight with men
hanging to it. They were, indeed drown
ing men catching at straws. Huge trees
With droRning families hanging to the
branches, swept on before Us. It would
Gil aFolune to record the details of suf'
lering, which have desolated this wreck
ed district. The destruction has been
most complete All this time the house
D which we dwell seemed to be exposed.
We expected it would be carried away.
Bat the streams which we saw rise aud
rush toward US, disersed before they
reached our home, and dashed away past
US, finding elsewhere enough of ruin to
do for other POOR unfortupatcs.
TIE Governments has been prompt to
send relief to the suferers. All the un-
injured parts Of the colonies baye been
raising a "Flood Relief Fund" This
will serveto ameiorate somewhat the ca
lamnity; bat the ruin of families, the loss
Of children. parents, and kiodred. and
The violent deaths OF loved ones to save
the bereaved among the living-these are
desolations that no relief fund can ever
assuage.
Interesting to Widows.
II