LONDON FLOODS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 86, 10 January 1928, Page 9

LONDON FLOODS

NO RECURRENCE ON SUNDAY NIGHT HORROR OF SATURDAY'S TRAGIC HAPPENING HEROIC EFFORTS AT RESCUE There was no recurrence of the floods in London on Sunday night, but the danger of a further catastrophe will not be past until to-night. Later messages emphasise the horror of Saturday’s tragic happening, the terror of which was increased by the failure of the lighting. The beds and other furniture in many wrecked houses have been covered with filthy slime, arid pianos and valuables spoiled. It is gratifying to learn that the damage to the pictures at the Tate Gallery is not nearly as great as was feared.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. —Copyright.

(Rec. January 9, 8.40 p.m.)

London, January 9.

Although there is danger of a further catastrophe until Tuesday night there was no recurrence of the floods on Sunday night. Details are accumulating to emphasize the horror of. the tragic happening, which was increased by the total unpreparedness of the victims. “Good God! the river is overflowing. Up quick, the children,” 1 cried one woman to her'sleeping husband. This "was typical of the first warning jn many homes. The terror was increased by the failure of the lighting. Galloping mounted police gave warning in many cases. In others police or firemen were quickly on the scene. Otherwise many more would have been drowned, as sleeping in basements is common in poor districts near the river. Trapped men and women in Westminster must have known their doom as surely as sailors in a sunken submarine. HEROIC RESCUERS. The heroine and hero of the tragedy were Miss Frankie Isse and Frank Wellsher. The woman awoke to find her bedroom half full of water and the furniture floating around. She escaped through a window, and then found a boy drowning, to whom she tied a rope and hauled him to safety. She also rescued several others. Wellsher lost his life /in. trying to rescue people in a Westminster basement. He was a champion swimmer and brought some men and women to the upper floor and returned to a basement, but a door banged behind him and was held by the force of the water, so that Wellsher was unable to escape again. REVELATIONS OF DAMAGE. The full extent of the damage is only slowly being revealed. Billingsgate Market, Thames Street, is flooded, the position being very serious. A Yeoman of the Guard, sleeping in a dungeon of the Tower of London, awoke to find his trestle bed floating, and when he jumped put it was into four feet of water. Insurance experts -point out that insurance for such damage is not recoverable unless specified in the policy. The people in poor homes will be the greatest sufferers. The beds and furniture are covered with filthy slime and pianos and other valuables are spoiled. The occupiers of some wrecked homes earned considerable money by charging fees to curiosity mongers. Thus women stepped from luxurious cars and paid half-crowns to see real life in chambers of horrors, with broken doors, overturned furniture, and drying bedding. DAMAGE AT TATE GALLERY. Much of the damage will not be so serious as at first feared. Thus alarmist reports spoke of the damage to the pictures at the Tate Gallery running into hundreds of thousands sterling. It is tru'e that many sketches, including Turner’s, were engulfed, but Sir Charles Holmes, director of the National Gallery, says they survived better than anyone hoped. Most of the Turner sketches were pencil outlines, without public interest as real treasures. They were exhibited on the ground floor, where the uninjured sketches are drying nicely, as they were promptly laid out on the floor of the gallery and the corners pinned down to prevent crinkling. A dozen Landseer paintings were seriously damaged. This is probably the worst loss at the Tate Gallery. WALLS BREACHED. Water poured through the breach in the river wall into Hurlingham polo ground at Putney and the tennis courts at Ranelagh Gardens, where the water was like a river weir. The bursting of a sea wall at Maldon, in Essex, also caused serious damage. The River Colne overflowed its banks at Colchester. Fifty motor-cars parked for a dance near Maldon were found by their owners in four feet of water.

UNDERGROUND RAILWAY NOT INVADED HAVOC BY TIDAL WAVE ON EAST COAST COLONIES OF BEACH HUTS SWEPT TO SEA London, January 8. The flood, fortunately, did not invade the Underground Railway,. but trams were brought to a standstill. In Lambeth and adjoining districts in whole streets of houses the water rose half-wav upstairs. Probably the worst damage" from a financial viewpoint was below Blackfriars Bridge, where warehouse basements .were filled. The dam-

age will not be known until the water is pumped out. ? Waves swept over the bank outside The Tower and filed the ancient moats. The Tower looks like its old self after centuries. The water is mostly fifteen feet deep, and twenty upon the Guards’ drill ground. ■A tidal wave played havoc on the East Coast and swept whole colonies of beach huts seawards between Frinton, Walton, and Clacton, festooned the village of Salcot with seaweed, marooned Brightlingsea, drove residents on the River Blackwater to the upper stories of their houses, and damaged wharves at Strood, Rochester, Chatham, and Gillingham. Many victims of the Thames flood, incuding hundreds of owners of valuable motorcars in inundated Putney garages, were amazed to find their insurances void. The companies contend that the flood was an “act of God.” IMPORTANT PLACES FLOODED. The important places flooded include Woolwich Arsenal, Billingsgate Market, the office of the Ministry of Pensions, at Kew, which entails delay in paying ex-service meh and pensioners, but the British Legion is attending to cases of necessity. The Salvation Army_ is distributing food in the poorer areas, and has established kitchens. The Mayor of Lambeth has opened a fund. He states that thousands of people living in basements have virtually lost everything. A large number of societies have responded to the appeal for immediate relief. Everybody is assured beds and meals. Vet-, erinaries are treating gratis hundreds of cats, dogs, and poultry. _ Many houses have been condemned in Hbrseferry Road area as dangerous.—Sydney “Sun” Cable. PRECAUTIONS IN CASE OF REPETITION London, January 8. Every possible precaution has been taken to deal with a repetition of the flood. 'All basements and ground floors in the' danger zones have been evacuated, and the police are patrolling the Embankment. Shelter and food have been provided for the temporary homeless. Several relief funds have been opened. At midnight large crowds of sightseers from the theatres' and parties assembled on the Embankment. The river was high, but high-water .was safely passed without the floodsrecurring anywhere. DEPOT FOR RELIEF OF HOMELESS' London, January 8. Hundreds of homeless, hungry, and scantily-clad people, including many children, crowded to the relief depot, where Londoners and firms are sending gifts of food and clothing. Nearly a thousand homes are uninhabitable owing to the water carrying in creosote and tar from riverside mills. The majority of the bedding is ruined, and laundries have been commandeered to cleanse it. The damage in Bermondsey is estimated at £lOO,OOO. —A.P.A. and "Sun.”

ROYAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO RELIEF FUND London, January 8. Their Majesties have wired the Mayor of Westminster sympathising, with the relatives of flood victims. The King is contributing £lOO and the Queen £5O to the relief fund.—A.P.A. and ‘'Sun.” SIMILAR FLOOD NEARLY SEVEN CENTURIES AGO Rugby, January 8. Historians state that the last Thames flood comparable with that of Saturday occurred nearly seven centuries ago, in 1235.—British Official Wireless.