General News
6 January, 2023
Extraordinary events
SUMMER READING'By KEN ARNOLDTHERE was an extraordinary hailstorm at Inglewood one October night in 1882. The weather changed and steady rain falling for several hours. Reports also had heavy rain falling in the Fernihurst and Boort districts. One...
SUMMER READING
'By KEN ARNOLD
THERE was an extraordinary hailstorm at Inglewood one October night in 1882.
The weather changed and steady rain falling for several hours.
Reports also had heavy rain falling in the Fernihurst and Boort districts.
One report said: “This afternoon we were visited by a terrific hail storm never previously equalled in this neighbourhood.
“The Green and Kingower hills, area of the town, were covered in white for a short time after the storm, in the town itself the din of the falling lumps upon the iron roofs was something terrific. Horses standing in the street attempted to bolt, and it was only at great personal risk that they were restrained by the bystanders.
“A large amount of damage was done to the windows and skylights of different hotels, more especially the Empire State, and Royal hotels, and private residences also suffered severely. The glass roof of Desland’s photographic studio was smashed to atoms.”
It was reported from Bridgewater that the hailstorm was even heavier. “The front windows of Johnstone’s hotel were destroyed, and the iron roof of Mr Burge’s blacksmith’s shop was perforated in several places.”
Just two years later, in November 1887, floods damaged the earthworks of the Dunolly-Inglewood railway line, at the Bulabul creek, midway between Inglewood and Arnold’s Bridge.
The water from the Kangderaar creek, which rises in the old gold mining town of Berlin, now Rheola, runs into the Bulabul creek at Arnold before flowing down to Black Bridge road, and on to join the Loddon river north of Bridgewater. The floodwater in the Bulabul Creek would often merge with the floodwaters of the Loddon River, at Memsie, these streams being about 900 metres apart.
Another two years later, the area had its heaviest flood in almost 30 years.
“At Bridgewater, Mrs Vince, who has two windmills pumping, was the winner of the divided first prize for an irrigated orchard, has suffered a good deal by the flood that swept right over a considerable portion of the lower part laying some of the larger fruit trees almost level with the ground and killing many of the smaller trees,” reports said.
“Mr A. Blacklow lost a considerable number of sheep. The roads in the out-lying districts are in a fearful state, sticky and in places almost impassable, which tolls heavily against the supply of milk coming into the cheese factory.”
The Bradford Creek flooded, the water washing away the bridge out whilst also drowning all the rabbits in their burrows.
The floodwaters were described as being six miles wide and four feet over McRavey’s weir, near Kerang.
During the February 1890 flood the bridge at Eddington was three feet under water whilst the confluence of the Loddon river with the Bet Bet Creek, which enters north-west of Eddington, the water was 20 chains wide and at Jones’s creek, at what is now known as Ankers causeway, the water was around 30 chains wide.
This flood water caused problems for Andrew O’Keefe, the contractor building the Laanecoorie weir, second only in Victoria to the Goulburn Murray weir, his two pumping engines being toppled over, whilst his saw mill and 30,000 feet of sawn timber, two pile drivers, the smithy and tools all being washed away. Luckily £3000/0/0 worth of Portland cement was spared by just three feet.
As the floodwaters caused a partial break in the embankment of the weir work had to be suspended for three months, Even though the new flood gates were wide open crowds of people assembled at the weir in May 1892 to see if it could hold back the flood waters, the torrent of water coming down the river caused the residents of Newbridge and Bridgewater to become quite agitated.
The 1893 flood waters surrounded many Serpentine houses, the water almost reaching the highway whilst the Pon Pon swamp area (down around the recreation reserve,) was described as a lake of water, however the recently built embankment kept the water out of the township. The floodwaters of October 9, 1894 saw the Loddon at more than eight feet above summer level and still rising. However, by June 1895 the river was so low that the flour mill stopped production. At this time a new bridge was built, to be opened at Newbridge on July 8, 1896.
The new bridge at Newbridge took some time to be built, it finally being opened in May 1899.
As the area underwent a dry period it was not until September and November 1903 that minor flooding next occurred.
The river was in flood in September 1906, the water covering the floor of Mrs Strain’s Commercial hotel, Eddington. The floodwater at Durham Ox was reported as being equal to that of 1870.
Part of the Eddington bridge, which had just been built at a cost of £2500, was washed away in 1909. The school children from the northern side of the Loddon had to be rowed across the river.
The flood water were described as being 30 feet over the embankment from end to end before four chains of the western embankment could stand no more thus gave way around midnight on August 19. The deafening roar of the water awoke the residents of Laanecoorie but all they could do was watch in horror as the water washed away part of the Janevale bridge whilst on the township side, on the high bank, the water lapped the window sill of Grissold’s Laanecoorie hote and his nearby coach building works.
The torrent rushed down the Loddon River, the spray being thrown to a height of 20 feet, water being reported as being six to eight miles wide at Newbridge.
The Tarnagulla reservoir boat had to be procured to help rescue many of the inhabitants of Newbridge. Petersen’s bakery collapsed and was washed away, as was Holland’s blacksmith which backed onto the recreation reserve, many of the tools being found some days later.
The bridge withstood the torrent, it being covered with haystacks, uprooted trees and debris. A weatherboard building at the rear of the Royal Hotel was lifted and swept over the store, the store stock being completely ruined. A slate top billiard table was caught by the current and smashed through a brick wall before being carried away. A cow that had been swept along in the water somehow got its front legs caught in a copper in the wash house, but survived. The centre section of the road bridge at Bridgewater was washed away whilst the water was within a foot of lapping the railway bridge, the railway line between that town and Inglewood having once again been washed away at the Bulabul Creek, whilst water was flowing over the counter at Sammer’s Loddon hotel at Bridgewater, the publican taking refuge on the roof of the building.
The flood waters at Durham Ox were reported as being 10 miles wide.
The drought of 1915 was followed by the biggest flood since 1909, in September 1916, the water rising to within four feet of the record level. Most of the river flats from Bridgewater down past Serpentine were underwater.
Henry Kennedy was drowned in the flood waters at Eddington in June in 1921.
The river flooded again in June and August 1923, the water being more devastating in the Lower Loddon area, the emergency levee along the Bendigo-Swan Hill road at Kerang breaking.
The river was described as being almost dry in early March 1926 when a mob of sheep were driven across it at Newbridge.
As the bridge over the Loddon River at Eddington had been inundated a number of times over the years during 1926 it was decided to erect a new single lane concrete bridge a short distance upstream.
In 1929 and 1931 flood waters from the Loddon River at Durham Ox were reported to be entering Pyramid Hill, whilst the outer levee at Kerang had been breached, the town people anxiously standing guard on the inner bank, the area of Yando and Canary Island being inundated.
The next major flood occurred in July 1936 when the water was described as being four miles wide at Canary Island.
Flooding occurred in August 1950, February 1951, July 1952 and August 1955 when Serpentine was surrounded by water. Although Cairn Curran was completed and opened on April 27, 1956 it was envisaged that any possible future flooding could be controlled by this weir however in July 1956 there was a sea of water ten miles wide between the Loddon River and Boort, it being seven feet deep.
Flash flooding occurred in October 1960 when Kerang felt the brunt of the water, October 1964 when the Laanecoorie weir was four feet above flood level, September 1973 when Kerang was once again threatened so much so that 130 soldiers from Puckapunyal were sent to help the 4500 residents maintain the levee banks, the floodwaters at that time being four miles wide as the Pyramid Creek empties into the river just north of the township, the levee banks at Benjeroop were breached, May 1974 Kerang threatened, November 1875, the levee banks at Pental Island were breached and September 1983, Bridgewater was threatened, many roads in the area being cut.
Although the Loddon river flooded in September and December 2010 it is the flood of January 2011, recorded as the second largest ever, that is best remembered. At that time 2200 square kilometres of land was impacted. The flood waters were recorded as being 90km long and 50km wide. Since then there had not been a serious flood.