The 1955 Hunter Valley floods

The 1955 Hunter Valley Floods

Impacts of the flood...

4000 residents were evacuated in Dubbo after the flood hit, and the same happened to all the towns along the Macquarie River. Then the flood hit Newcastle, greatly affecting industrial businesses. By this time, thousands were left homeless, and these refugees were taken to a migrant camp called Greta. Soon after, the flood connected with the coast and northern NSW became an inland sea.

Also, at the Belmore Bridge, the flood reached a maximum height of 12.3 metres!! Soon, the whole township of Hexham was also covered in water. Fortunately though, every single resident had been evacuated. The flood, after flooding the entire Hunter Valley region, spread across to the coastline and to other parts of New South Wales.

This calamitous catastrophe did a lot of damage to the infrastructure of struck towns. The greatest impacts of the flood were in Singleton, Maitland and Muswellbrook. Maitland was hit the heaviest by this flood, hence the nickname of the flood “The Maitland Flood.” In these towns, every single business went financially bankrupt.

Introduction

The 1955 Hunter Valley floods was the worst Australian flood to have occurred since European Settlement. With fourteen people dead, over 5200 homes evacuated, and over 40000 people evacuated, this disaster was the flood that made Australia regarded as “prone to floods.”

What really happened?

The flood started when a southwards-facing monsoon depression originated in southern Queensland and came into northern New South Wales. On Wednesday, the 23rd of February 1955, a heavy, persistent rain began pelting down on the headwaters of the Goulburn River, in the Upper Hunter Valley.

What else was affected?

. The total flood volume in Hunter valley alone was 2.1 million mega litres, equal to 21000000000000 litres. This immense capacity can fill the entire capacity of the Sydney Harbour over four times. The flood then spread across the Great Dividing Range, creating a sea on land the size of England and Wales combined. Because of these vast numbers, this flood; the worst in Australia’s history, symbolizes flooding in Australia at a widespread scale.

Human Impact and Flood Comparison

When did it stop?

The human impact of the flood was so great that it made Australia regard floods much more seriously. Because of this flood, Australia has also become known as prone to floods. The repair of all the buildings that were lost in the flood put a very heavy weight on Australia's economy at that time, as it was over 2 billion dollars. A flood similar to this one is called Gundagai, which happened on June, 1852 occured earlier in Australia's history but was not as severe.

At last, the waters began to ebb after five days of persistent flooding that submerged a great deal of northern NSW’s land. This left many thick layers of silt and debris washed away in the flood. The last victim of the flood, Joseph Murray, drowns. The repairs of the flood cost over 2 billion dollars, and there are still wet houses that have withstood the flood today.

Conclusion

Flood Pictures

Here are two pictures of the Hunter Valley Flood, the left one bing a diagram of the flood and the right one being an image of the flood.

This now legendary flood is widely known today and is usually the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Australian floods. This one flood was the worst in Australia's history and the 14 people that have died will be remembered for a very long time.

Thank You.

It first submerged the town of Singleton, which stranded about 600 people in different places. That night, the town of Muswellbrook was also submerged followed by Maitland during the next day. Many people were swept away clinging to their rooftops. The water reached the power lines, electrocuting three people that have tried to escape the flood. The flood level in these three towns could reach up to a height of over five metres!