FLOODS IN ALGERIA

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 306, 29 November 1927, Page 7

FLOODS IN ALGERIA

TERRIBLE SITUATION. OVER THREE HUNDRED DROWNED. THOUSANDS IN THE HILLS. (By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) PARIS, Nov. 27. Heavy floods are reported in Algeria, particularly , in the Department of Oran. The town of Mostaganem (45 miles north-east of Oran) is inundated. The situation is terrible. The floods in Algerian broke the Fergoud dam, GOO yards . long and 100 feet high and burst an underground river. . Many houses in various towns collapsed. . Aeroplanes are rendering aid to people rendered homeless in. out-of-the-way places. Trains are held up in several directions. The drowned are believed to number more than 300, The promptness of an engineer at the Fergoud dam in sending out telephone messages for 40 minutes, warning people in the picturesque town of Perregaux (a railway junction on the Habra River, forty miles east of Oran) that the dam was about to col-, lapse averted an appalling disaster. The majority of the iO,OOO inhabitants were enabled to rush to the hills where they are at present isolated and destitute. The flood engulfed trains, twisting engines and bridges into fantastic shapes. Two Europeans were seen clinging to a tree-top, but help was impossible, and they were overwhelmed. Rescuers are endeavouring to take food and u'ater to a marooned train, in which are many starving children. —Australian Press Association and Sun cable. ; EFFECT OF DAM BURSTING. AREAS WITHOUT IRRIGATION. Received November 29, 12.35 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 28. As the whole region of the Algeria below the dam which collapsed during the floods depends on the reservoir for irrigation, it may be impossible to grow crops agan for some years. — A. and N.Z. cable.