Air-Sea Rescue Of Cyclone’s Victims

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30634, 28 December 1964, Page 11

Air-Sea Rescue Of Cyclone’s Victims

(N.Z.P.A.- Reuter—Copyright) COLOMBO, December 27. Ships and aircraft yesterday joined in a rescue operation for thousands of victims of the cyclone which struck north Ceylon and south India four days ago.

An Indian Navy ship evacuated 250 of about 3000 people marooned on the Indian island of Rameswaram, where the official death toll exceeds 500.

A train carrying 110 passengers and a crew of five was washed away by a giant tidal wave.

Most o c the island was under water today, and helicopters were dropping food to isolated groups. Other naval vessels, from Madras and Cochin, were on their vay to join the rescue operation. The cyclone struck both sides of “Adam’s Bridge.” the chain of islands which almost links Ceylon and India. It also left a trail of death and destruction in north Ceylon. An official report said about 350 Ceylonese fisher-

men were feared dead at sea

Press reports said Ceylon’s death toll might go as high a s 2000. About 5000 homes, 700 fishing boats and the Jaffna district’s entire paddy crop were lost. The Ceylon Government rushed food, medicine and clothing to stricken areas. A Navy ship tonight sailed for the badly-hit Mannar area, and the Air Force was dropping supplies- Press reports put the damage in Ceylon at about £14,800,000.

In the United States, 14,000 people 1 are homeless after floods which swept through Oregon and California. About 40 people have died. In Portland, Oregon, speci-ally-built dykes held back waters from the rain-swollen rivers Willamette and Columbia. A wind storm which had threatened to cause serious flooding brushed past the city without causing serious damage. Damage in the United States i floods runs into uncounted j millions of dollars, j In Gray, Georgia, today, a (tornado hit four caravan homes, killing two people and injuring six.