STORMS IN BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19831, 29 December 1927, Page 9

STORMS IN BRITAIN.

EFFECTS OF BLIZZAEI).

TRAINS UNDER SNOW.

MOTORS, LOST IN DRIFTS.

MIJCH COUNTRY FLOODED.

THAMES TWO MILES WIDE.

By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.. (Received December 28, 7.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. Dec. 27. Gangs of men are working ceaselessly all day digging out the snowed-up trains throughout the country. The majority of the main lines are clear, but the branch lines are still considerably affected, and many trains have been cancelled. The main roads are still impassable owing to the snow drifts, and there is no sign of these disappearing. Consequently scpres of villages are entirely isolated, no vehicle being able to enter or leave. In the City of London a number of motors were caught in drifts and were completely buried. Many of these were released to-day, but hundreds remain lost. Three big omnibuses were entirely lost. In various parts of the country bungalows are so snowed up that only the roofs are visible. Floods are adding 'o the general inconvenience. The Thames, the Wey and the Mole valleys are inundated, and in the neighbourhood of Chertsey, 21 miles south-west of London, the Thames is two miles wide. The Medway is 12ft. above the normal level, and the main London to Folkestone Road is covered by 3ft. of swirling current. In the neighbourhood of Maidstone and along the riverside the houses are awash. The worst gale known for 30 years continues in the English Channel. The body of an auxiliary postman was found at Upper Cwmbran, in Monmouthshire with his Christmas mail still strapped to his shoulders. He was evidently trying to reach an isolated farm when he fell into a snowdrift and died. Over 1000 people are homeless in Canterbury owing to the floods from the River Stour. They were without fcod supplies and fires until parties arrived in boats and rescued them through bedroom windows. One old lady of 86 was lowered from a bedroom into a cart.

FLOODS IN EUROPE. ICE JAM ON DANUBE. WILD WEATHER IN NORTH.

(Received December 28. 9.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. PARIS, Dee. 28.

Wild weather accompanied by snowstorms and cyclones continues in many of the northern countries. The floods are very serious in Serbia, Greece, Spain and elsewhere. The Marseilles express from Paris was derailed owing to floods but no one was injured. Artillery and bombs from aeroplanes are being used to break the ice jam which is damming the Danube below Bratislava, 35 miles east of Vienna, and is doing immense damage to the shipping and the wharves.