MELTING SNOW.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 20, 5 January 1928, Page 5

MELTING SNOW.

FLOODS ENGLISH RIVERS DARTFORD STREETS SUfBMERGED. THAMES VALLEY BADLY AFFECTED. tßrltlib Official Wireless.) (Received 5, 10.30 »,b.l Rugby, Jan. 4. The flood situation to-day is better in some areas and worpe m others. Dartfold, in Kent, is o»e of the new areas badly affected. The river Darenth suddenly burst its banks during the night and to-day there were four feet of water in some of Dartford’s streetjs. Some 200 houses are flooded and their occupants are living in the bedrooms. The Thames continues to rise and in the places where it has overflowed its banks it js six or seven times the normal width. At Clapton, in Bast London, many houses are marooned as a result of the overflowing of the river Lea, a tributary of the Thames. LARGE AREAS UNDER WATER. London, Jan. 4. Extraordinary scenes continue to be witnessed in flooded England. Hundreds of homes are surrounded by water, and business men are being ferried along stretches of roads and railway tracks like rivers. Great areas of land are so changed in appearance that Captain Perry, piloting an Imperial Airways liner from Cologne, had to set a compass course over the south-eastern counties to Croydon as if flying over the sea.—(A. and N.Z,) EARLIER REPORTS.

Last night’s official wireless message stated that the floods caused by yesterday’s rapid thaw and heavy ram continue serious, but during the night the temperature became lower and the rain ceased, thus easing the situation, A steady wind has prevented fogs in London. The most serious flooding occurred in the Harlesden area, where 20 houses and several roads were affected. Many important roads in southern England are impassable, but conditions in the Thames Valley, owing to the preparations of the Thames Conservance Board, are less serious than had been anticipated. The water continues to rise at Reading and Pangbourne, but the situation is considered well in hand, and the cold dry weather to-day will assist the water to drain away. From all parts of the country continue to come reports of damage and difficulties caused by the floods. The most notable happening to-day was the collapse of a bridge on the London and North-Eastern railway, near Edmonton, on the main line from London to Cambridge. A mail train had only just passed. The line has been closed to traffic, causing considerable disorganisation which would have been worse but for an old loopline, which has not been used for many years, but to which it was possible to divert traffic for Cambridge.