MANY LIVES LOST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 75, 9 January 1928, Page 5

MANY LIVES LOST

WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. HURRICANE IN BRITAIN. SERIOUS FLOODS FOLLOW. A NIGHT OF TERROR. (Press Association —Copyright.) - LONDON, January 7. The Thames floods are unprecedented. Even Richmond and Twickenham were invaded, street traffic being suspended. Lower down the river, the convent .at Islesworth was marooned across flooded fields, and the water demolished the walls of an ancient palace below Richmond. A woman’s body lying in a coffin floated away. The principal incinerators were flooded, preventing the collection of garbage for several days. The Kew„ Kreen, and Royal Gardens, also Chiswick, on the opposite side of the river, were severely damaged. At Fulham the high-tide water rose above the stage of the theatre. The. Chelsea and Pimlico districts were inundated, the river breaking its banks in Hie vicinity in two places 50 yards Jong. . Many living in these thicklypopulated districts were driven out of their homes. It was a night of terror all through the flooded areas. In one case a bed-ridden woman of 80 was caught in a basement. A man dived in and found the bed floating against the ceiling, and rescue was impossible. Escapees clad in their nightclothes crowded the streets, and the children were terror-stricken. Police reserves were called out, and mounteds traversed the streets, knocking at the doors and rousing the inhabitants. They rescued many from horseback from the windows. A man was trapped in a basement at Ponsonby Place. A hole was cut in the floor of a, room above, and he was lifted out unconscious. Swans swam in Horseferry Road. Taking stock of last night’s amazing flood, it is believed the death-roll will total 20, including the four sisters Harding, whose ages range from two to 18 years. They were drowned in an embankment basement, and must, have been instantly overwhelmed. It was a night of terror and tragedy. Between the Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges, the flood slammed the door on n man who had returned to a basement room for valuables, and he was drowned. River steamers grotesquely rode the waters oh the levels of the_ streets. ' Underground railways are dislocated hy the floods, and power-houses/ - are paralysed. , ' .. / av ■ ■# ‘ Two servants were drowned /in a basement at Hammersmith. Remarkable heroism was shown by Miss') Frank Tsse. After escaping from a flooded flat at Putney, she returned, breaking a window, and swimming around the Toom rescued several others, j Nevertheless, two were drowned, hut the bodies have not been recovered.

. DROWNED IN BED. FATE OF FOUR SIS/TERS. LONDON, January 7. There was no recurrence of the Lon- " don floods to-day, hut the Port of London Authority has issued a warning that they may be repeated, as the tides are likely to increase till Tuesday. Breaches in the embankment wall have . been temporarily repaired and sandbags replaced. The death-roll is now 14, the victims, being mostly from Westminster,' where the poor people in the tenements near the Houses of Parliament were the worst sufferers. Heroic efforts to rescue those imprisoned -were made last night by the police and neighbours, who went to the doors arousing sleepers. Mr Harding, an artisan, whose four ■daughters were drowned in their beds, bad a expereince. The girls were sleeping in one room in the basement. Mr Harding rushed down and heard the girls’ pitiful cries to open the door, -but the water was so deep , that all Ms powerful and prolonged, desperate exertions were unavailing. He had to giro up the attempt and go upstairs to rescue his wife and other children. Priceless pictures housed in the basement of the Tate Art Gallery mostly Turner sketches, were soaked, and it is feared many were ruined. This is the most sudden and serious flood l in London in living memory. - The “Observer” describes it as the worst shock to- London’s complacency since the war, revealing a nerilously weak spot in the defences of the metropolis which cannot be repaired by the mere extension and strengthening of the embankments. The Thames had developed a menace unknown for upwards dof a century, because the national system of land drainage had fallen hopelessly in arrears.

BROWNINGS AND INJURIES. WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. LONDON, January *6. After the blizzard and floods, British people were beginning to think this winter rather exceptional when the country yesterday was swept by a great gale and at least five were killed and many injured. There was also widedamage. The wind swept over Spurnhead at 'BS miles per hour. It was much more moderate in London, hut a gust of 53 miles per hour was recorded at Kew. A woman was killed by the collapse of a wall at Kilburn. A roof blown off a house killed a cyclist at Northampton. A little girl was struck on the head hy a packing case blown from a van and died at Peterborough, and a motorcvolist was blown from his machine and killed at Bromley. Telephone poles and wires are down everywhere. The P. and O. steamer Razrnak, leaving Tilbury Dock for Bombav. was blown against the Mooltan. Skilful seamanship resulted in only a slight grazing of the Razmak’s bridge. The Thames Embankment is flooded from the Tate Gallery to Blackfriars. fine person was drowned and it was feared that there are four others. The Embankment is a remarkable sight. 4*mecia% g£- the water

eataracting over the parapet and flooding the foot of. Big Ben. and the old palace yard to a depth in some places of a foot. There are miniature waterfalls near Cleopatra’s Needle. The famous training .ship, President, and all other craft are floating above street level. The public sub-way near Westminster Bridge is flooded to a depth of four feet, Tramcars- were brought to a standstill and electric fights put out. ‘‘ „ . The only spectators of the strange scenes were policemen and belated dancers and “down-and-outs” whose slumbers on the Embankment seats were disturbed. The scenes were due to a combination of high tide 1 with flood water from the upper reaches. All riverside gardens and lands between the Teddington Lock and Hammersmith Bridge are under water, the flood being the highest in living memory. The water overflowed into terraces and the Houses of Parliament and Commons. The sub-way in Horseferry road, Westminster, was flooded four feet deep. People were rescued from houses -on horseback. A man was drowned in a basement room while asleep,- and a taxi-cab standing outside a garage in Page Street was washed away. Seven workmen were seriously injured. by the'collapse of scaffolding at Belfast, where the wind reached a velocity of 57 miles an hour. EXCITING EXPERIENCES.

INUNDATION OF HOUSES. LONDON, January 7. Many houses in Stamford Street, which is parallel with the Thames, leading to Waterloo station, were inundated. Three hundred women and children took refuge in a chapel. At the Union Cold Storage, 150 men ceased work when the water reached the machinery. Colonel Day, M.P., telephoned that the furniture in his flat at Westminster was floating. Another victim of the floods was an elderly woman, who was drowned in a. house basement in Couston Street, close to the Vauxhall Bridge. Firemen were pumping basements at 3.30 this morning, the tide. turning helping to save the situation. The residents of Ponsonby Place were warned by -alighterman hammering at their doors, and the people rushed out in their night clothes. It is believed that 10 persons* were drowned in Westminster basements, including the porter of the Tate Art Gallery, and others at Putney and Hammersmith. The floods reached the jewel chamber in the Tower, also reaching Blackball Tunnel and Lambeth Palace. Mounted police rescued 1 terrorstricken women and children in many low-lying streets. HUNDREDS HOMELESS IN LONDON 1000 HOUSES UNINHABITABLE (Received This Day, 1.15 n.m.) LONDON, January 8. Hundreds' in London are homeless and 1 hungry and scantily clad, including many children, who are crowding to the relief depots, wlrere many firms and individuals are sending gifts of and clothing. Nearly 1000 homes are uninhabitable owitig to water carrying in creosote tar from the riverside mills. Most of the bedding has been ruined. The damage at iiermodsey is estimated at £IOO-,000.

RELIEF OF DISTRESS. PROMPT RESPONSE TO APPEAL, (“Sun.”) (Received This Day, 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, January 8. The important places flooded include Woolwich Arsenal, Billingsgate market, and the office of the Ministry of Pensions at Kew. This entails delay iir paying ex - Servicemen pensioners, but the British Legion is attending to cases of necessity. The Salvation Army is distributing food in the poorer areas, and has established kitchens. The Mayor of Lambeth, who opened a fund, states that thousands of people living in basements lost virtually everything. A large number of societies responded to the appeal for immediate relief. Everybody is assured of beds and meals. Veterinary surgeons are treating gratis hundreds of cats, dogs' :and poultry. Many houses in the Horseferry Road area are condemned as dangerous.

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SECOND. HIGH TIDE PASSES SAFELY. (A.P.A. and “Sun” Cables.) (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, January 8. Every precaution is, being taken to deal with a repetition of a flood. All the basements and ground floors in the danger zone have been evacuated. The police patrolled, the Embankment. Shelter and food have been provided for the temporary homeless, and several relief funds have been opened. At midnight large crowds of sightseers from the theatres and parties assembled on the Embankment. The river was high, but high water was safely passed without floods recurring anywhere. /

THEIR MAJESTIES’ SYMPATHY. (Received This Day, 9.50 a.m.) LONDON, January 8. Their Majesties telegraphed to _ the Mayor of Westminster sympathising with the relatives of the victims of the flood. King George is contributing £IOO and the Queen £SO to the relief fund.