SWEPT BY GALE

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 September 1946, Page 5

SWEPT BY GALE

THIRTEEN PERSONS KILLED IN ENGLAND THREE VESSELS SUNK LONDON, Sept. 22. “The death-roll in a great gale which swept the Channel and South England on Friday, before moving on to Northern Germany, numbered 13, and at least 52 persons were injured, says the Sunday Express. Three ships were sunk and foui were driven ashore. Farmers estimate that millions of pounds worth of damage was done to harvest fields. . Four thousand London telephones were put out of order, and telephone services to the Continent were interrUAereport from Frankfurt says that at least nine persons were killed when 40 bomb-damaged buildings collapsed under the high winds. Three passengers were lost oveiboard when a great wave struck a ferry steamer en route to Southampton from Jersey. The steamer battled on for five hours and reached poit with doctors still giving first aid to passengers with injuries, including a number of broken limbs. <. ovvv When the wave struck the feny the vessel rolled over until the sea flooded the decks, carrying off the three missing passengers and a quantity of baggage. p _ . . Rivers in the north of England burst their banks and flooded railway tunnels and houses. Schools and factories were closed. Families in shire were marooned in their bedrooms as the water rose four feet in the streets. , Many towns reported streets under one to two feet of water. Farmers, who thought the worst must surely be over, saws stooks and stacks soaked and found it necessary to tear stacks apart to prevent danger from overheating.