FLOODS IN HOLLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 51, 29 February 1916, Page 11

FLOODS IN HOLLAND.

HTTGB TRACTS SUBMERGED. JEHE WORK OF CENTURIES WRECKED IX AN HOUR. [(London "Daily News" Correspondent.) ROTTERDAM, January IG. "I am standing up to my \va.ist in Tvater. The whole island is flooded, a-nd the houses are giving way." At that moment the telephone cable between the island of Markeri in the Zuider Zee and the mainland snapped. So the outside world heard 10 more of the plucky operator's description of what was happening in that quaintly picturesque spot which has suffered more- than any other from the etorm which haa shattered the historic sea dykes and flooded miles of country north of Amsterdam, inflicting damage that cannot yet be estimated. Communication with the island \>y boat has not been affected, and we know that sixteen people have lost their lives in the floods, cattle have been swept away, that the wrecks of the picturesque old "fishinj; craft lie piled up on each other in the harbour, and the remaining inhabitants peer out from their attic windows upon a.n immeasurable waste of angry grey water. Eight bodies have so far been recovered. When the fierce nbrth-west gale of Thursday drove the eea. down into the Zuidcr Zee the water came like a tidal wave, casting into the sea the wails of the mainland, and mounted the dykes of Markcn on all sides. No boat could have got people off in time, and, leaving the cattle to their fate, meai and women climbed to the attics of their dwellings or perched on piles, fearing the worst, but hoping that the skilful work of their forefathers would hold against its ancient enemy. BOATS SMASHED LIKE TINDER. • It is a tribute to the Dutch engineers that every soul on the island.is not lost. ■Aβ it is. only four houses esca,ped dam- j age. Everyone is still in danger, and | it is not improbable that more lives have been lost. In the mad rush ol the waves solid fehing-'boate were 6nmshed like tinder; two small vessels. ■were lifted cm to the roofs of a group of houses, 'wrecking the dwellings and •drowning the inmates. From the meagre details at present available we learn that in one of them a man. his wife, and two children were drowned. Iti another house, which was crushed, eight people clambered from beam to beam ius the house settled down, and last of all clang for dear life to the rafters, screaming for help that could never come. As their strength failed they dropped into the swirling waters one by one and were borne away, the beam still pointing upwards as a mocking monument to their Etruggle for life. In another house the three (laughters were surprised in their beds, and Markeri beds are like huge cupboards, the children sleeping c-n the floor, the parents on an ample ledge above. Their bodies have just been discovered, the girls locked in each other's arms. When the louse of Clacs De Waa-rd was washed off its foundations, a woman was lasx seen screaming from a top window for help. Everyone in that household is Bussing. The house was carried over 100 yards, and then struck another, and vas wrecked. * JLarkes, once the joy of tourists, is one hfgc wreck. FLOODS ON THE MAINLAND. While no Toss Is reported from "mainland floods, they are far more extensive, and the financial loss is enormous. All land in and around the Dead Cities of the Zuidex Zee —Edam, Volendam, and iloimikendam —is under the sea. On Friday the sea dykes broke in several places near Naarden, and between Edam and Monnikendam. Millions of tons of water crashed over and through the breaches. The maze of ditches and canals, ordinarily so still, became as mountain streams in spate. pigs, goats, and cow 3 that could not reach the high dykes were washed away. Few could mark their cattle, and many will never regain their own animals. Safety was their only thought. In little breaks in the stream women could be seen pushing perambulators with babes ami driving cattle, all making for the higher levels of Amsterdam. Many farmers first saved their cattle, returning in boats to save their families. Gradually the water reached the gnarled heads of the willows; dead cattle could lie seen floating everywhere, chickens were perched in trees, and cats and dogs on roofs of houses, while vicious, gTey-beaked crows were screaming overhead, waiting to swoop down and snatch at the dead animals dotting the surface of the waters that now stretched as far as the ere could

HEROIC RESCUE WORK. Soldiers made a dash for many of t.'ie breaches, and worked heroically to stem the tide, but were as helpless as Canute. The police retrieved cattle in boats. All the churches on the high land were thrown open to receive cattle. Tie Queen's Palace at Amsterdam is placed at the disposal of the homeless, and around Amsterdam Tollhouse seventeen hundred beautiful black and white dappled cows represent part; of the salvage. Mile after mile is under water; rich farmers are rendered practically penniless, and the land will take years to recover its old fertility. At places where breaches occurred land was washed out till it was JcAver than the bed of the sea; and until the breaches are repaired there is no hope of taking off the water. Edam, Monnikendam, and Volendam are completely under water. The lower houses in the Jatter place have water up to the attics, whilst in the low-lying Buikslootmeer Polder the water is level with the china insulators of the telephone poles. It is the worst disaster for many years, and it will take a generation to retrieve the loss.