Bega Pioneers' Museum has countless files on people and places. One is the history of Bega floods, 1851-1978, written by Bernice E Smith. As the story now is becoming more contemporary, if anyone has personal stories of these floods, the Museum would really like to add to its record.
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THE early months of 1974 were dry, but in April heavy rain fell causing flooding on Jellat Jellat flats.
George Preo of Tathra, who attempted to cross the flooded road, was washed away and drowned. This was in spite of the efforts of four young men with surfboards to rescue him.
The winter of 1974 continued fairly dry but August was wet, with 284 millimetres recorded. This was a welcome fall, and a good spring followed. Rainfall for that year was 1628 millimetres.
1975 followed much the same pattern, with 336 millimetres in March and 115 in October, the rainfall for the year being 1221 millimetres.
1976 was again a good year, with 385 millimetres in March and very welcome spring rains of 385 mm in October, enabling pasture growth to be established before the hot weather set in.
The year ended with a total of 1313 mm, but unfortunately this pattern did not continue, very dry conditions marking most of the year 1977, when only 583 mm were recorded.
1978 started off very badly, with hot, dry weather so cattle, especially dairy cattle, had to be hand-fed. Many cattle were in poor condition and, as saleyard prices were very low, the man-on-the-land was hard-pressed to obtain feed.
A great gale in March, in which many homes were unroofed and trees uprooted, brought a change in the weather.
Early April came in wet, bringing floods to the Bega Valley. In all, there were three floods during the next 10 weeks, rain falling right through June, with a very mild temperature reading and no frosts. However, pastures although green did not show much growth.
Sown crops responded with the exception of those which had been covered with flood-waters and sand. July was a cold month with many frosts but dairy production has been good so all looked forward to a favourable spring, to give encouragement to our farmers who keep Bega famous as the cheese and butter centre of the Far South Coast, already noted for the beauty of its valleys, hills and beaches.