FEARFUL TOLL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 56, 7 March 1930, Page 7

FEARFUL TOLL.

FRENCH DISASTER. RUINATION of flood. V m Deaths Now Estimated at 700. I GALLANT rescue work. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph-Copy right) (Received 11 a.m.) PARIS, March 6. 'Flood devastation continues throughout the south-vest. It is estimated that there are 700 dead. A family of seven was found dead beneath the ruins of tlieir home. A peasant, seeing his house collapse, whipd out a revolver and committed suicide before the horrified spectators could prevent him. A husband and wife were clinging-to the branches of a tree together when their strength failed and they dropped in the flood. The population eulogise the Senegalese soldie r s, who are doing magnificent rescuin" work, some remaining for 36 hours in the chilly waters. Two German Touths are credited with saving more

than 100. A group of cavalrymen-' set out to rescue some screaming children who were marooned on a diminishing island but met with disaster. Three horses and their riders were drowned. 10,000 Square Miles Devastated. An earlier message stated that an area of 10,000 square miles in Southern France is flooded. It is the worst catastrophe of the kind in the history of the country. The waters are now and the scene is one of utter desolation and destruction. .It stretches along 120 miles of rich country 30 to 40 miles wide and embracing more than 100 important communities. Troops are feeding and sheltering thousands of people. Women are weepr. in" and men are cursing the fate that has destroyed their life-work. Rescue operations are not merely a matter of hoats and rafts. They are as perilous as life-saving in rough seas for the floods in many places are not placid lakes, hut raging torrents. One rescuer was drowned after having saved at least 100 people. The Mayor of Jtitoissac, where the dam burst, said it was a terrible sight when dawn broke. A whole row of houses had been torn down" and many poor souls were trapped in bed and buried under the ruins of their homes. Their dreadful cries had been heard throughout the night, but everyone was helpless in the darkness. A survey of the damage reveals the fact that it is even greater than was feared. At present it can only be vaguely approximated, but material losses are already estimated at many millions of pounds. Fourteen departments have been wholly or partly devastated. The destructive character of the floods i is sweeping and dramatic.. All telegraphic aid telephonic communications have been severed, arterial roads have been destroyed, hundreds of factories and power stations and thousands of farms have been ruined, dwelling houses have collapsed and many bridges have been swept away. An order for 70 coffins has been received'at Toulouse from the Prefect of Tarn et Garonne. Thousands Homeless.

Airmen are surveying the devastated area. They report that more buildings lave collapsed in the Tarn Valley and at Reynes, which is almost totally destroyed. They also report fourteen more deaths. s The members of the fire brigade from Toulouse rescued 22 persons who for 48 lours had been precariously clinging to roofs or taken refuge in trees. Sixty-four paople were rescued in one place and seventeen in another. Nearly all the district of Iss has been under water for two days. The Toulouse correspondent of the "Daily states that at least 10,000 people are now homeless as a result of tie floods, which are subsiding gradually. Montauban presents a scene of heartrending desolation. In the low-lying streets near the river the houses have been swept away and other buildings are crumbling and crashing down almost «ery minute. The damage to factories in the Tarn department alone is estimated at more than £1,000,000. At Castres people have been thrown out of work and there is little prospect of fresh employment for them. Important woollen and leather factories have been destroyed in other districts, the damage totalling at least £500,000. The members of the Chamber of Deputies were hurriedly convened for a conference to-day. They decided to institute an immediate inquiry into the disaster. The urgency of relief measures prompted the Chamber to pass a credit of £250,000. The story Is told of a woman who trying to save her paralysed father she was swept away and droVned. ■Her husband rescued the invalid.