FLOOD DISASTER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21944, 12 February 1946, Page 3

FLOOD DISASTER

ENGLISH TOWNS

EXTENSIVE DAMAGE

RHINELAND CIIIES SUFFER

(10 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 11. The waters were subsiding last night in most of the Hooded areas in Britain leaving the families struggling to clean their homes and make them habitable again. The floods in some areas, though uasf their peak, are still high. Town councillors at Northwich, Cheshire, one of the worst-hit towns, at an emergency meeting, described the damage as the “greatest disaster the town has ever suffered.” The tradesmen's losses are estimated at £IOO,OOO. Many towns will be without gas because the floods have immersed the boilers and fires at the gasworks. Mud and debris choke the thoroughfares in many centres.

The whole of the London-Midland-Scottish rail service to Scotland and Lancashire was blocked as a result of a washaway 10 miles north of Stafford, where tlie River Sow burst its banks and undermined the stone foundations of the track.

Washaways also cut the Southern and Great Western lines at several points. The worst gale for 50 years swept across the Midlands, leaving a 150-mile trail of floods, uprooting trees, and damaging houses. Gales blowing in the Dover Straits reached hurricane force of 90 miles an hour, buffeted ships, and drove 33 to shelter. Worst For 35 Years The floods in the Rhineland, according to the Hamburg radio, are the worst for 35 years. The water is rushing down the Rhine valleys at a speed of 10 knots. The rivers Marne. Moselle and Necker are still rising. Several bridges have been swept away. One person was killed and 3000 rendered homeless when flood waters tore a breach in a dvkc along the Emscher River between Gelsenkirchen, Ilorst and Herne, near the Ruhr industrial area. Policemen and firemen rescued people by cranes from their houses, where the water had reached the upper floor. Rest centres and emergency homes were hastily established for the homeless. Mothers with children were billeted in private homes. The British military authorities provided vehicles to assist the evacuation. The Hilvcrsum radio announced that torrential rains tore a breach in the Scheldt dyke near the Belgian-Dutch frontier, flooding several square miles of country. Volunteers, including Boy Scouts, filled in a 33ft. gap and the dyke was reinforced by specialised workers.