Millions of Tons of Water

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6866, 24 May 1932, Page 7

Millions of Tons of Water

Tropical Rains in Britain WIDESPREAD DAMAGE DURING WEEK-END United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LOND'ON, May 22. Widespread rains of tropical violence havo caused floods throughout Britain. Over three, hundred million tons of water foil in the Thames watershed during the week-end. The biggest cloud-burst within living memory brought a night of terror to tho Leicestershire town of Ashbv-de-la-Zoucli, where water demolished a sixfoot brick wall, smashed shop windowsand imprisoned half the population in their homes, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. The inhabitants of Rugby were left in the plight of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner,' with “water, water everywhere, oi,or any drop to drink.” The floods injured the waterworks, stopping the supply to the town. The worst floods for half a century are reported in Oxfordshire. Barrels of ale were washed into the streets at Stokesby. Tclenhonic and telegraphic communication is interrupted in many districts, and cattle, pigs and poultry have been killed. Worst for Fifty Years GREAT DAMAGE IN MANY AREAS Received Monday, 10.30 p.m. LONDON, May 23. Hundreds of thousands of pounds ot damage has been done throughout England by the torrential rains, which broke the record of 50 years in many districts, causing the most serious floods, particularly iu Yorkshire, where scores of farmsteads are cut off. The water has' converted fields into lakes, washing away corn and potatoes and killing poultry. Six hundred shops and 1000 houses in Derby were inundated. Hundreds of roads in the north ot England are impassable.