GREAT STORM IN SPAIN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 49, 21 November 1907, Page 8

GREAT STORM IN SPAIN.

FLOODS AND, DROWNINGS. • Tho great storm which struck Malaga on September 24 and the torrential rain which followed it have caused almost- incredible havoc throughout Eastern and South-east-ern Spain. • Tho River Guadalmedina, near Milaga, has risen no less than 24ft.; so" that the valleys, roads, railways, telegraph wires, and bridges were, simply obliterated.', More than one hundred dead bodies have been recovered, many of them decomposed, beyond recognition. The loss of cattle- is enormous; In Malaga itself the I'erchel, Trinidad, and Capucnin cathedral quarters wero Covered by the flood, which .lias left a layer of slime., In this the bodies of animals' fester' and rot.. An epidemic tnrcateris. , The gas and electricity works were flooded. and the town is in darkness. The' water 'mains burst* the .Jiewspapor offices were flooded, 2000 houses were damaged; and numberless' families. are homeless and starring. A stock of dried fish damaged by the flood was seized and devoured by a ravening' crowd.'■ Those • who ate of it sickened; so that thp hospitals aro overcrowded. Many ! other patients aro suffering from chills brought oil by want of food, and yet others aro prostrate from tho sight of .the . horrors they have witnessed. Merchants and proprietors 'of buildings ruined'by tho flood are asking for the postponement of payment of outstanding debts.Three churches were flooded, and.tho tramway service everywhere was stopped, .'jtiva' gun's-destined • for Melillai on trie 'Moorish coast, were rolled from the arsenal out to I sea by the rush'of water. • DEEDS OF HEROISM.' ' ' ' There were many deeds of heroism. The waters broke into a house, where a mother slept on tho floor aboTe lie'r children's bedroom. She was roused and ran downstairs.• rescued two children, and went back for tlw, youngest * Tho cradle in which tho"infant lay had floated out at the door? aiid the chil-i cried loudly as it was.f swept away, rha mother, wearing only night • attire, dashed after tho cradle and succoeued' in- fetching'it back. ' ■ Three women and fivo .cliilditen were marooned on a roof for forty-eight-■ hours. .A merchant watched the terrors of' the ' floo-1 front a housetop and died ot 'shatk when rescue. came. Three journalistsicwere swept away and only saved themsolvesriby clinging to a tree. The bodies of two:' lpvers, .tiglitly clasped, were thrown up hyVitho waters. Some died from the collapse of.roofs .is till water undermined the foundatiqns. Man f lost their reason from fear. v.. . A number of villages in the country round .Malaga suffered terribly. _lias sixteen dead, Bena-Margosa eightj,'., Periana Beventeen, Colmenor twenty-five,.-jCfpgardo three.; Great havoc was done ada. The railway and telegraph si}rv,\fes ; n Andalusia and the eastern provincest.'afl) dislocated. Storms and rain continue -ftvcf, tlm whole region. A start has been made on the task of cleaning and restoring; Malaga. ts casting up bodies and all kinds of jobjcct* swept from the land by the 'floods'. I rßfil'i if work is being ■organised. ' bnii' :. King Alfonso has opened a subscMfttftiu' with a gift of £240. tormc. • . '.i J-'o ;iu;