AUSTRALIA'S worst drought in a century has uncovered a town deliberately flooded 50 years ago as part of a massive hydro-electricity scheme, stirring painful memories for former residents.

Adaminaby, a small farming town nestled in the Snowy Mountains on the border between New South Wales and Victoria states, was submerged under 30 metres of water in 1957 when the local valley was dammed to form the man-made Lake Eucumbene.

The settlement was never expected to be seen again but the severity of the drought has evaporated most of the lake, bringing it back to the surface.

"We couldn't believe it when the old streets started to reappear," said Leigh Stewart, a local history buff who grew up in the old town and once ran a shop there.

"It brought back a lot of memories, I can still see in my mind's eye how the town was," he adds, gesturing around the muddy wreckage of what was once his family home.

Stewart said the town's re-emergence was a striking demonstration of the severity of the drought.

"It shows how bad the situation is around here," he said.

"The dam's at about 20 per cent capacity now and it's getting worse. We're all hoping it turns around soon and we get some consistent rains that will fill the lake again."

The hills around the lake are topped with green vegetation that stops abruptly at a line mid-way down the valley, replaced with brown mud that marks the old shoreline, some 30 metres above the current water level.

Main street now above water
The sloping main street of the old town, its bitumen eroded from decades underwater, is now being used by locals as a boat ramp to access the depleted Lake Eucumbene.

Shards of pottery, rusted batteries, bottles and other remnants of everyday life in the old town dry in the sun, with the foundations of old houses covered by a thick layer of silt from what used to be the bed of the lake.

The blackened skeletons of trees drowned half a century ago poke out from the water about 50 metres from the current shoreline in a straight row, still marking the route of a road they once lined in the old town.

A flight of concrete steps leads up to the remains of the St Mary's Catholic Church, now reduced to a few tilting brick columns and rotten wooden floorboards.

It was at the top of these stairs that Greg and Mary Russell were sprinkled with confetti when they were married 60 years ago.

Greg, now 82, said he had mixed feelings wandering the streets in the old town where he played as a child.

"It's sad and it makes me a bit nostalgic," he told AFP. "We had some good times there and it's strange to see it this way now."

Source

This story reminds me what they were showing on 20/20 last night. It was about Earth Day tomorrow. In Australia parts of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef are dying off because of global warming. They said that Australia could become the first developed country to value fresh drinking water more than oil.

That is disturbing on so many levels. Lets try to remember:
1)water IS life
2)what happens to that coral reef will eventually happen to us, we are all connected.
Thanks for bringing it up Str8Male74 and Sparkie.

Here are three things people can do to help with environment.

1. You can use a brick or a bottle of water in your toilet tank. It saves water.

2. Turn off your power strips or buy a smart power strip. The smart strip turns off when your equipment is not in use.

3. Use CFL light bulbs. They come in all the same styles and colors to suit the rooms in your home and they burn alot longer. Saves energy and on your electric bill.

You all know when the Ice Age ends that it will start to get colder again, right?

I've seen The Day After Tomorrow which I think is the same thing you're talking about. Rains for days in New York then snows...there is an eye of the storm where it's clear and stops snowing and everything starts to freeze. Great action disaster movie.

Most likely the next major war will be over water ? .

Don't be silly there is loads of it in both major oceans.

A few desalination units and we are quids in.