SEVERE WEATHER

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 120, 14 February 1929, Page 11

SEVERE WEATHER

IN EUROPE AND BRITAIN NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS CAUSED NO SIGN OF A BREAK Intensely cold weather is being experienced in Britain and Europe, and has been the cause of numerous accidents. The forecast is for even worse conditlons in England, which is threatened with the greatest frost of modern times. ' ' (United Press Association.—Ry Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) London, February 12. There is no. sign of a break in the Arctic weather. The intense cold is accentuated by snow storms and heavy gales throughout Britain. A Scotch express on the Midland Railway ran Into a goods train at Alfredton, Derbyshire. The engine was overturned, and four parcel vans derailed, killing the driver and fireman. The passenger carriages kept the lines. Fortunately, there was no fire. Messages from all parts of Europe disclose the terrible severity of the weather. Trieste had a 90-mile-an-hour freezing hurricane. Six hundred persons were Injured. An avalanche at Innsbruck buried five smugglers. The temperature In parts of Rumania was 45deg. below zero. Whole families were frozen to death. Amsterdam reports an epidemic of fires throughout Holland owing to the cold freezing the water supplies. The fire brigade was called 50 times yesterday in Amsterdam alone. The wellknown Theatre Flora was burned to the ground. The famous Town Hall at Leyden was burned down and priceless archives, with numerous treasures, destroyed. The brigades were helpless Owing to the freezing of the water. Three other buildings were burned at Leyden, where the damage amounts to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

BLEAK DAY IN BRITAIN

HEAVY SNOWSTORMS SEVERAL SHIPS "IN DIS- ' . ' (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, February 12. The intense cold which has for some time prevailed over , a large part of Europe continued yesterday and spread to the British Isles. It was the bleakest day of the present winter. Easterly gales were accompanied by snow in many places, deep drifts causing considerable interference with traffic, and the frost was severe. The wind moderated and sunshine was general early to-day, but the temperature was lower than yesterday, and a continuance of cold stormy weather with local snow ‘.storms Is predicted. > . Several shipping disasters occurred, But no lives were lost. The most serious was that which befell the Belgiap 'cfbss-Channel steamer Ville de Liege, which, with 48 passengers and mall aboard, ran aground within a few hundred yards of Dover landing stage. The vessel grounded at 7 o clock, owing to adverse conditions the tugs which went to her aid were unable to tow the vessel off. She sank soon after 11. In the meantime the ships lifeboats and the Dover motor lifeboat had succeeded in rescuing the passengers and crew; The passengers suffered considerable* hardship owing to the cold spray freezing on to their clothes as they awaited'the lifeboat on the deck of - the ■>. stranded steamer. The Ville de Liege is fast on the rocks, but only a small part of her hull can be seen. This morning some of her mails were taken off at low tide. An attempt was to be made later to get the vessel off. . A small coastal steamer, bound for London with a cargo of soda, grounded in a snow storm early this morning. The crew of 13 were rescued by the Plymouth lifeboat, which spent the greater part of the night at sea, and by rocket apparatus operated from the cliffs- . .■ , The steamer Peel Castle, with nearly 100 passengers on board, was exposed for 16 hours to a blinding snow storm and tremendous seas on her voyage yesterday from Douglas, Isley of Man, to Liverpool. She was due at Liverpool landing stage at 2 o’clock Y este yj day afternoon, and did not arrive till shortly after one this morning. The icy gale froze the mixture of glycerine and water which covered her steering rods when she was off the Bar lightship at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon. The ship was helpless, and was immediately anchored, while the engineers dismantled the steering gear. This was later reassembled, and the anchor was weighed shortly before midnight. . Severe snow storms were expertenced in the South Coast countus of England, and road transport was hampered, but the most serious effects of the blizzard were felt in Wales and Scotland. Snow ploughs were in some cases necessary to clear the railway lines. Pilots on the London-Paris air route state that the cold in the upper air was the most intense they hr.d experienced in nearly ten years of crossChannel, flying. „ . . In London last night 12deg. of frost were registered, and the thermometer has risen little during the day. The cold is accentuated by the east wind.

PARTS OF THAMES ESTUARY FROZEN WORSE CONDITIONS FORECASTED GREATEST FROST IN MODERN TIMES (Australian Press Association.) London, February 12. Portions of the Thames estuary are ice-covered. Ships are arriving in the Thames with their rigging completely covered with ice, sometimes inches thick. Remarkably low temperatures are being experienced, ranging between 15 degrees at Hampstead, 19 degrees at Birmingham, and 17 degrees in central London, the lowest since 1909, when 14 degrees was reached. The forecast is that the worst is yet to come in England, which is threatened with the greatest frost in modern times. Berlin reports that the intense cold was responsible for two disasters. The Stuttgart express’was forced to slow i down owing to a freezing radiator. I The driver in the following express did not see tioA signals from his frost-

covered windows, and crashed Into the Stuttgart train. Three people were killed and 17 injured. An attempt to thaw a frozen calcium carbide and acetylene gas factory at Barmen led to aif explosion in which three were killed and 20 seriously injured. The whole factory was demolished. The Rhine, Mosel, and Ruhr Rivers are frozen for considerable distances. Frankfurt reports the lowest temperature for a century. A war-blinded man was -found frozen to death at Duisberg. His dog was keeping watch beside the body/ not allowing anyone to approach. Sofia reports that the ports of Varna and Burgas are ice-bound and people are skating along the coast of the Black Sea for the first time since 1849. Paris experienced 26 degrees of frost, the lowest with three exceptions in fifty-five years. • -The Prefect .of Police Is installing braziers, at sheltered corners In the principal streets. There were many train delays owing to points and engine tiibes freezing. Heavy snow-falls are reported in many places, even at Marseilles and Cannes. The famous' Chartreuse Monastery near Grenoble Is snowed up and isolated.. There were 48 degrees of frost -at Belfort. ' .