PALESTINE CLOUDBURSTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 May 1934, Page 7

PALESTINE CLOUDBURSTS

ANCIENT TOWN WRECKED MANY LIVES LOST [BY CABLE —PBESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.] JERUSALEM, May 14. A cloudburst has fallen at Tiberias, on the shore of the Sea. of Galilee. Twenty dead have already been recovered. Fifteen hundred troops and police are searching the ruins for bodies. LATER. The sky was turned by the cloudburst, into inky blackness. Then came an unprecedented rainfall. Within a few minutes the narrow streets of Tiberias became raging watercourses. Old houses cracked and collapsed.

A SECOND BURST. (Recd. May 16, 11 a.m.) JERUSALEM, May 15. The Tiberias’ death roll is twentyfour, excluding those believed to have been swept out to the Sea of Galilee. It is also possible- that .casualties occurred during a second cloudburst following to-day’s funerals. The victims were mostly infants and aged people, who were surprised in the wrecked houses, crowded on the lakeside, where an eight-feet wall of water, laden with stones and sludge from the hillsides overwhelmed tiie buildings. The -scene is chaotic, but order is slowly being restored.

MANY HOMELESS. Ebbitish official wibeless.] RUGBY, May 15. The second cloudburst within 24 hours occurred at Tiberias (Palestine), shortly after the funeral of yesterday’s victims. It lasted for nearly half-an-hour, and old Tiberias was turned into a rushing river, which carried away goods from houses and shops, and, it is feared, caused further casualties, particularly among children. The population of the old town was evacuated to the high suburbs. Telegraphing with regard to Monday’s cloudburst, the High Commissioner stated ttxat nineteen bodies were recovered, and others are missing. Fifteen people are in hospital. Many were rendered homeless. Much of the salvage work, which, was promptly undertaken, was apparently undone by to-day’s deluge. The Colonial Secretary has -sent a telegram of sympathy.