ITALIAN DAM BURSTS

Northern Advocate, 15 August 1935, Page 7

ITALIAN DAM BURSTS

THOUSAND DEATHS

TRAIL CF DESTRUCTION FACTORIES COLLAPSE, WOMEN AND CHILDREN VICTIMS. iUnited Press Association—By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright .] (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON. August 14. The Geneva correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that a dam burst, and an avalanche of water, 25 miles long 'and' two miles wide, descended on the toWn of Ovada, Nor.hern Italy, spreading death and destruction. The cotton factory collapsed like a pack of cards, and several other factories were engulfed. The village of Molare was completely wrecked, and several others were partially destroyed. Most of the victims were women and children, nearly all the menfolk having been summoned to the colours by the latest .mobilisation orders. They are stationed at Asti and Genoa, whence they were called to help in the rescue work. There were heartrending scenes as the men searched frantically in the floods for members of their own families. A message from Turin states that more than 1000 people are believed to have been drowned at Ovada, and the neighbouring town. Alessandria, when the dam burst and torrential rain demolished roads and bridges. The dam was 100 feet high and 300 feet long. It was constructed to hold up the waters of the lake of Orta. Hundreds of people were trapped in their houses, which crumbled over their heads. The countryside was flooded to an area of 16 miles. It is estimated that the death roll at Ovada alone was between 100 and 150. The railway bridge near Ovada and Acqui crashed some minutes after a loaded passenger train had passed over it. Troops and engineers were rushed to the affected area, but the rescue work was difficult owing to the depth of water and the darkness. Scenes of Horror. Ovada families, marooned on roofs and trees or trapped within their homes, are still being rescued 1 , tonight from the frightful avalanche of water which flooded the entire valley of the River Orba. Troops and) Red Cross units all day long toiled in the vast area of desolation, which is scattered with the bodies of men, women and children and carcases of horses and cattle, exploring shattered homes. Meantime 10,000 people haye evacuated to high ground owing to fears of a second dam burst. The disaster was so sudden that the people had’no time to reach the hills. Many had not even a chance of climbing to upper floors and roofs The - ' water tore some foundations, and swept them away like ‘paper-. The I victims were mostly, women and children and aged people, aa the more active were engaged on farm work on the slopes of the valley when the torrent came. Seme of these experienced the horror of seeing their homes engulfed, in’ which they knew, were their wives and, children. Many rescuers performed deeds of heroism. One young man swam and saved seven from roofs. . A cradle with a child in it was seen Abating out pf reach near Alessandria. The village of Rossiglione, 10 miles south of Ovada, was razed to . the ground by flood waters from three rivers. The entire population of some villages is missing. . The burst dam cost £.600,000.