SEVERE GALE IN BRITAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17979, 3 January 1922, Page 6

SEVERE GALE IN BRITAIN

im AND SEA CASUALTIES. STRAIN OVER EMBANKMENT. TWO WARSHIPS GO ADRIFT. By Telegraph—Picas Association—(Wyrisht. (Received 5.6 pm) A. ft.Z- LONDON. Jan- 1. A severe pale swept Britain on Friday, doing considerable damage. It if still raging in the South of England. Heavy rain and melting snow caused floods and landslides, especially in Scotland. A ballast train ran into a landslide near Loch Treig, in Inverness-shire. The engine and two waggons were pitched down the embankment. Two men were injured. The Carlisle-Edinburgh express ran into a tree which had been blown acrces the line, The train kept the rails, though four of the engine-wheels were torn from their sockets. A house at Battersea collapsed, and two of the occupants were killed. Numerous shipwrecks occurred, small vessels being lost or the east and southeast coasts. There was some 'oss of life. Tugs towing the battleship Vengeance to Dover to be broken up were compelled to abandon their task owing to the gale, and the Vengeance went adrift in the Channel. With .14 men on board she remained adrift, constituting a danger to shipping. Three tugs sent out returned to port, failing to find her. She was re ported 10 miles north of Cape Hague. After drifting for three days, however, the Vengeance was recovered and towed to Cherbourg. /The destroyer Medina, while being towed to Milford Haven to be broken up, snapped the towline, and is now adrift in the Channel with tugs searching for her.