STRICKEN NEWFOUNDLAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20421, 25 November 1929, Page 11

STRICKEN NEWFOUNDLAND

TOLL OF TIDAL WAVE.

HOMES SWEPT OUT. TO SEA.

PARENTS' HEROIC DEEDS.

WINTER PROVISIONS GONE.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright

OTTAWA. Nov. 23.

A message from St. Johns, Newfoundland, says Mr. George Bartlett, who has just returned from Newfoundland, was an eye witness of the tidal wave which followed the recent earthquake. He says the result was a definite change in the configuration of the land on the Burin Peninsula. Mr. Bartlett witnessed the disaster from the deck of the steamer Daisy, which was lifted on the crest of the tidal wave and dropped back as the tide receded. In places where vessels could ride safely at anchor the disturbance has left the coastal waters too shallow for navigation.

The damage is estimated at more than £200,000. The deaths are variovtslj estimated at 26 to 36.

Burin, the largest town affected, has a population of 1200. The tidal wave rose 40ft., sweeping all the property on the waterfront.

The French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Burin, are reported to have suffered severe damage. Four members of the crew of the steamer Georgian were taken to hospital on the arrival of the ship. They were injured when a terrific sea swept the ship and shifted her cargo on Monday when she was 12 days out from Copenhagen.

Awful Scene of Desolation. The tidal wave struck Burin at night, two hours after the earthquake. In the darkness the scene was appalling. From all sides came cries for help. In certain localities the waterfront at Burin is bare of everything and no evidence remains of there ever having been inhabited houses. The seas were searched by rescuers from the Daisy immediately after the wave struck the town, but no living thing was found. In one upper room a light burned spectral in the dark. From one house Mrs. Vincent Kelly, of Kelly's Cove, rescued two of' her children. She then went back and made a desperate effort to save a third. Her home was carried away to sea and neither the mother nor the child were seen again. The members of one family were seated at tea when their house suddenly shifted and then went back to its position. As it moved again the father seized a child under each arm, and with his wife on his back struggled through the water to safety.

Motorist's Eace for Life. A motorist who was approaching Burin won a thrilling race. A bridge he was crossing went down as the rear wheels of his car reached the further side.

The steamer Daisy rose high above the Government Wharf. As the water subsided she rested on the bottom where the normal depth used to be 18ft.

The most serious result of the disaster is the privation caused by the destruction of homes, the winter supplies of provisions and fuel and of practically all fishing gear.

A message from Sydney, Nova Scotia, says the captain of a Dutch steamer, the Stadvladinger, which has docked there, reports that three members of the crew were swept overboard and • drowned by the tidal wave.