1955 Hunter Valley Floods
The Hunter Valley Floods (also known as the Maitland Flood) of February 1955 was a major flood on the Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia. They were one of the most devastating natural disasters in Australia's history.
The flood overwhelmed rivers on both sides of the Great Dividing Range, creating an inland sea the size of England and Wales. Worst hit was the inland city of Maitland, which is sited precariously on low-lying land on the Hunter, was completely inundated by floodwaters. A total of 25 lives were claimed during a week of flooding that washed away 58 homes and damaged 103 beyond repair. In Maitland alone, 2180 homes were invaded by water.
Read more about 1955 Hunter Valley Floods: Timeline
Famous quotes containing the words hunter, valley and/or floods:
“and the words never said,
And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
We sat in the car park till twenty to one
And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)
“I see before me now a traveling army halting,
Below a fertile valley spread, with barns and the orchards of summer,
Behind, the terraced sides of a mountain, abrupt, in places rising high,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“Poor verdant fool, and now green ice! thy joys,
Large and as lasting as thy perch of grass,
Bid us lay in ‘gainst winter rain, and poise
Their floods with an o’erflowing glass.”
—Richard Lovelace (1618–1658)