The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1860-07-25
private letter communicated TO the ~ Y. Tribune.
TERRIBLE FLOOD IN ACSTRALIA.

1I.i~AWAnA UlSThiCI. y. - W. lcOU.
You may feel interested in knowing what a
calamity has befallen the people of this part OF
the globe. We have recently had tropical tor
| rents Of rain, that were really fearful. But in
FEBRUARY the flood gates of heaven seemed to be
open, and all the fountain heads of the rivers
seemed to have burst their bonds to overflow
US. These districts have been devasted by one
of the most fearful floods ever known in Aus
tralia. Life and property have been sacrificed
to an extent truly appalling. The damage done
cannot be estimated. Whole families, with
every living thing on their hOmesteads, crops
and ALL were swept into the sea of the resist
less food, and no one left to tell what they have
lost.
At Bells Creek diggings the claims have all
been filled. The poor miners We're whirled
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 how suddenly the waters came down up
On them, Or OF the gold that was lost. One lit
tie girl WAS found alive in the region Of Bell s
Greek, who had lost father, mother, five broth
ers and sisters, and home All that she pos
sessed and loved i'm the world was swept away.
In one night this poor unfortunate was dashed
down to poverty and OrPhanage. The face Of
the country is SO changed that she cannot point
out where their house stood
Near the source of ShOal Haven River at one
point, the water was seen to come rushing down
upon the plains like vast pyramid The river
rose in few hours one hundred feet. The up
land flats were like great lakes. On and on
swept the avalanche Ut waters in its desOlating
path. An immense belt of richly-cultivated
lands, smiling with plenty, has been left like a
ruined desert, filled or covered with sand and
rocks. Houses, gardens, crops, cattle, horses,
fences, trees, soil, men, women and children,
were swept over precipices, down through val
leys, and on into the surging sea, and thown
back upon the coast in indescribable confusion.
For many miles the shore was covered with the
awful wreck. Boats were rOwed and steamed
over where 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 were rescued just before their
houses were swept away. Some of these boats
now stand high and dry in the midst of where
the town once stood. The ShOal Haven river
bed has been filled up and the waters have found
another channel.
An island at the mouth Of the Shoal Haven
was inhabited by about 80 families, probably
nearly 400 persons. The people, seeing the
water rising up suddenly all around them, fled
to the highest hills. Soon all they had was
gone, and the waters kept creeping up after
them. The people were wonderfully preserved.
A vessel at sea saw them, and sailed to their
relief. They were saved just before the island
was submerged.
A great many individual cases of thrilling
interest are related. Many poor mother sac
rifced her life i'm wild efforts to save her poor
children. One young man, in his efforts to
save his mother. swan with her through the
flood and carried her across an OverfOwed
field. He struggled hard to reach q place OF
safety; he succeeded and laid his treasure-his
feeble mother-down but only to see her die
Ten minutes after he had brought her to place
of safety, she closed her eyes in death. A hay
| stack fOated down in sight with men hanging
| to it. They were, indeed. drowning men catch
| ing at straws. Huge trees with drowing fami
| lies hanging to the branches, swept on before
US. 1t would fill volume to record the details
of suffering which have desOlated this wrecked
district. The destruction has been complete
| All this time the house in which we dwell
seemed to be exposed. We expected it would
! be carried away. But the streams which We
| saw rise and rush towards Us, diverged before
| they reached our home, and dashed away pas
us, finding elsewhere enough Of ruin to do FOL
other poor unfortunates
The Government has been very prompt t.
send relief to the sufferers. All the uninjurt
parts Of the colonies have been raising Il " FlOOt
Relief Fund.- This will serve to amelioratt
somewhat the calamity; but the ruin of famil
les, the loss OF children, parents, and kindred
and the violent deaths of loved ones to saw
the bereaved among the iving-these are desc
latiOns that no relief can ever assuagc.