A 12-year-old girl drowned and four people were missing in flash floods in the Woden Valley after an evening of torrential rain, The Canberra Times reported on its front page 49 years ago today.
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Cars were swept away by the deep flood waters, while others disappeared into storm water drains after their owners made narrow escapes.
In the early hours of the morning, 50 police, alongside Civil Defence volunteers, fire brigade, tow-truck operators and civilians were searching for stranded motorists and bodies.
The Scrivener Dam area was unsearchable, as the sluice gates had been opened to release a torrent of water.
The worst-affected area on Yarra Glen appeared to be the section between Carruthers Street overpass at Curtin and the intersection of Yarra Glen with Melrose and Yamba Drives.
About 60 cars were pulled from the flood at that intersection.
Seven people were killed in the flood, 15 were injured and 500 people were affected. About 95 millimetres of rain fell in one hour, causing the flood.
A Canberra woman who was driving her car close to the Carruthers Street overpass when the floods struck said that her car "just began to float away".
She said she stayed with her car until the engine cut and then abandoned it, wading through water up to her thighs and finally taking shelter in another car on slightly higher ground.