FLOODS IN NORTH HOLLAND.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15489, 17 January 1916, Page 7

FLOODS IN NORTH HOLLAND.

ZUYDER ZEE DIKES BURST. * A TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE. MANY TOWNS INUNDATED. (By Cabic—Tii'ss Association.—Copyright.) (Received January loth. .j.5 p.m.) AMoTEKDAM, January 11. The whole n( North Holland is iu clangor of flrx)din£. owing to the bursting of tho Zuydcr Zfe dikes at various points. The people have fled from Edam, and other towns. Yolendam is entirely flooded. The water is j>ouring in with tcrririr force at Broek-in-"Waterland (four miles north-north-east of Amsterdam). A .storm caused a tidal wave which destroyed railway communication with South Holland. AMSTERDAM, January 10. A great-.' storm caused most serious floods in Northern Holland. The people were awakened by alarm-ltclls, and were terror-stricken to (ind themselves confronted by water which was rushing into the streets and houses. Soldiers and civilians vied with one another in their efforts to prevent an extension of the flood. Yolendam is completely isolated, and the Island of Mcrkcn is entirely .submerged. Mounickcndam is partially under water. It is feared that the whole of North Holland will bo inundated.

A dike near Muiden .broke at tw 0 in the morning, flooding the streets. The people spent; tho night fighting the flood. There arc similar inundations at Brock, where the water is pouring over the dike with a noise like thunder. Some houses have been swept away. Tho people fled in boats. Many cattle were drowned in tho low-lying PolderLand. At Brock and Edam the catile are stalled in tho churches, where the people have also taken refuge. Tales of alarm and confusion aro coming from* Hoorn, Naarden, and Buiksloot, following -upon tho alarm-bells ringing in the midst of tho darkness and storm.

North Holland is a. province comprising the whole of the large peninsula between the North Sea and tho Zuyder Zoe, and extending to the mainland south of Amsterdam. Edam, about 12 miles north-east of Amsterdam, is about two miles inland from tho Zuyder Zee. Muiden and Naardon are cast by south of Amsterdam, on the south shore of the Zuyder Zee. Broek-in-Waterland, four miles north-north-east of Amsterdam, Was formerly noted for its excessive cleanliness, which was such that, till 1858, there was no road by which vehicles [might enter tho village, lest the horses should dirty tho streets. Hoorn is about 23 milos north of Amsterdam, and Buiksloot is four miles north of tho city. Merken, or Marken, is a small island in the'Zuyder Zee', three or four miles east of Monnicltendam, which lies about seven miles north-east of Amsterdam. '

The circumstance that so much of Holland is below tho sea-level exercises a very important influence on the drainage of the country. The endiking of the low-lands against»the sea, which had been quietly proceeding during tho first eleven centuries of tho Christian Era, received a fresh impetus in the 12th and 13th centuries, from the fact that the level <,1 tho sea then became higher in relation to-that of the land. Holland's chief protection against inundation is its long) line of sand-dunes, facing the North Sea. in which only two ieal breaches have been effected during tho ccnturies of erosion. These are represented by the famous sea-dikes called the Westkapelle dike and the Hondsbosscho Zeewering, or sea-de-fence. These two sea-dikes were reconstructed by tho State at great expense between 1860 and 1884; Tliq Westkapelle dike. 12,408 ft long, has a seaward slope of 300 ft, and- is protected by rows of piles and basalt blocks. On its ridge, 39ft broad, there is not only, a roadway, but a service railway. Tho cost of its upkeep is more than £<3000 a year, and of tho Hondsbossche Zeewering £2000 a year. The chores of' the Zuvder Zeo are partially protected by dikes. In more than one quarter the dikes have been repeatedly extended so as to enclose land conquered from tho sea, tho work of reclamation being aided by a natural process. The first' step in the reclamation of land is to convert it int 0 a oolder (a section of artificially-drained ; land) bv surrounding it with dikes, hencei the term "polder-land," used in the cable message. FLOOD IN IRELAND. KING'S CODNTY INUNDATED. GREAT DAMAGE DONE. (Received January 16th, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, January lu. Floods of unprecedented volume burst tho Canal Edonderry, King's County, Ireland, and washed away houses, cattle, and crops. The damage is estimated at £50,000. Ecfcnderry is a • town in the northeastern district of King's County, about 34 miles west, of Dublin. The Grand' Canal passes about two miles south of Edenderry, through Kildaro County to tho River Liffoy.