THE LONDON FLOOD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20337, 20 February 1928, Page 13

THE LONDON FLOOD.

A NIGHT OF TERROR. SCENES OF DESOLATION. A TIDAL WAVE. (From Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON. January 10. The London flood early on Saturday morning is a disaster which has no parallel. Thousands of people wore asleep in the basements of houses along the Thames from Richmond to Woohvicn when the waters burst in on them. In the course*of minutes rooms were flooded to the ceiling. Although thousands of people were able to make their escape in time to save their lives, 15 were trapped and drowned. There has boon nothing like this action of the river in living experience. The chief damage was caused by the bursting of the embankment wall at 'Westminster, in Grosvenor road. Most of the lives were lost in the small but crowded flood area of Westminster. 'Phis extended from Lambeth bridge up the river to the approaches to Vuuxball bridge, and its depth varied from 200 to 500 yards, reaching almost to Victoria street in the neighbourhood of Horseferry road but falling short of Rochester row at the Vauxhall bridge end. All this area is filled with working-class dwellings, divided into flats and crowded with large families. There are whole streets of bouses of two and three storeys, all of which have basements that have been turned into flats. Into these the flood waters poured ns into sinks, and, having filled them, it continued to rise above the street levels to a height of about 4ft. THE MOST TRAGIC STORY. The most tragic story is tnat of the four sisters Harding, who wore sleeping in one room in the basement of their home. “ They had recently moved down from the attic whore they slept,” a neighbour related, “and their father and mother were asleep in the upper room. Their father heard tho crash of glass ns the flood broke in. Ho rushed down the stairs, going deeper and deeper into the water. “He could hear the four girls calling to him, ‘Dad, open the door! ’ He dived against it three times, but the weight of water in the room was so great that lie could not open it. He had to retreat and could hear the cries growing fainter. It was not until the firemen arrived and the cellar was pumped out that the four bodies were recovered.” ON A FLOATING BED'. Mrs Quick, of Causton street, who was bedridden, was rescued by the firemen, who found her bed afloat in her room. They brought her out, and applied artificial respiration; but they were too late. Miss Smith, of Horseferry road, in whose house Harry Bears, one of the victims, lodged, said that she was awakened by the noise of the water, and stepped out, to find it swiiting round her feet. She then heard Sears calling from the basement, “ Save me, save me! ” She flung up tho window, and called out to tho policemen in the street. They lormcd a line, clinging to each other’s hands, and broke the window. The room where Sears was sleeping was a whirlpool, and no sign could be seen of him. Another of the victims, Mr Frank Willshire, of 21 Hiuchclifl’e street, had been at home only a few minutes, and was trapped while in the basement kitchen, to which he had gone for some food. The fierce inrush of waters jammed the door, and all attempts to reach him failed. Two young women employed as maids at houses in Grosvenor road, facing the river, were also drowned before warning cr help could reach them, and their bodies were recovered on Saturday only after the fire brigade had pumped the water out of their basement bedrooms. WARNING BY THE POLICE. Grosvenor road was the thoroughfare in which there was the least chance of helping the unfortunate people in the basements, for it received the full impact of the released waters when the containing wall gave way. As the tide rose level with the top of the embankment wall, a long stretch of the wall burst with a noise like an explosion, and the water, tearing up the wood paving blocks from the roadway, rushed across the road and deluged the houses on the opposite side. Farther along Grosvenor road, close to Vauxhall bridge, another piece of embankment parapet gave way, and alongside Lar Mh bridge, on the Westminster side, the high tide was swirling across the x’oadway, down the low-lying Horseferry road, and into all its little tributary streets. In an incredibly short time the whole of this district was under water. Some warning was given by the police, who ran along tho threatened streets hammering on front doors with their truncheons and ordering the occupants of basements into higher rooms or into the street, but even some of the police were taken by surprise ns the flood surged up and then almost carried them otf their feet. MISS FRANKEISSE’S STORY. There are many tales of heroism. Miss Marjorie Frankeisse, whose home is at Norfolk road, Cliftonville, Margate, showed wonderful gallantry in rescuing a woman and a boy from the flat in Putney in which two girls named Watson lost their lives. She was staying with the Watson family. While lying in Fulham Hospital she told the story of her exploit to a press representative. “ I heard a sound as if water was being let out of a bath,” she said. “ When I got out of bed J found that it was swirling round my feet and furniture was floating about in it. I knew that 1 could not get out into the passage, and I had a brain wave and thougiit of tho window. Before I got out I -heard Irene Watson go to the telephone in tho passage and shout something, and then rush back to her bedroom. Dorothy, who was sleeping in the same - room, and was a strong swimmer, got out into the passage, and that, was the last I saw of her. As I left the place I shouted: ‘Get through the window.’ I saw Irene standing on her bed, which was floating in the water. I got outside, and as I passed the window of Irene’s bedroom I heard the smashing of glass as if someone were trying to get out. “Billie Watson and Peter, my'brother, had already got out into the area, and Billie was in a had way. Three times he wont under, and I had to grab him to keep him afloat. Two men and three women from the flat above had tied three sheets together and lowered the end iiito tlie water. I managed to get Billie to the sheet, and he was hauled up. I knew that Mrs Watson, who is a big woman, was in her room, so I grabbed the sheets and swung myself into her window. At that time there was only a foot of space between the too of the water and the ceiling. I could see Mrs Watson scrambling towards me. and ns she did so her dog Tony, evidently anxious to pet to his mistress, pushed her hack into the water. This happened several times. “ Still clinging to the sheet held by the five people upstairs, I swung backwards and forwards, holding Mrs Watson until she could grasp tho sheet sufficiently to bo hauled up to the flat above. Everything happened in a few minutes. I was half dazed, and in the darkness it was difficult to see what was happening. How we managed to get out I do not know.” Damage was done at the Tate Gallery, where water-colour pictures, including a number of sketches by Turner, were soaked by the water, which poured into the cellars. They were stored there in portfolios, as there was no room to hang them elsewhere. The frescoes in the vefrcslipient room, which are newly painted, have also been badly damaged. CONSTABLES’ HEROISM. An act of heroism on the part of a young constable is told of the events at the Gallery. There was an elderly caretaker on tho premises when the water swept into the building. When the police and rescuers arrived the caretaker was nowhere to Ixj found. A young constable stripped, and began to swim through the dark, flooded passages; eventually ho found the caretaker in a state of collapse, leaning against the wall, with the water reaching to his chin. Tho constable seized him and swam with him out of the building. Many other acts of bravery by the police on Iho night of fhc flood are recorded in a police report which is being prepared. Describing the systematic search of the streets, the report says:—“lnspector Spence, with a party of police, wont to Horseferry road, where it was reported that on elderly man was trapped in the basement of a house. Tho houso was sub-

merged in 15ft of wafer, and it was_ impossible to effect u rescue. (Several officers made heroic attempts, but (bey bad to bo abandoned, and the body of the man was eventually recovered by the fire brigade when all the water was pumped from tho room.” Similar efforts were made to rescue (be four girls who wore drowned in No. 8 Grosve.nor mad, and Lilian done?', who was trapped at No. 30. Artificial respiration was tried in many cases with success. . ' _ P.C. Graves (A Division) and 1 .L. Ni-con (B Division), the former off duty and in plain clothes, went,’’ the report continues, “to the assistance of an employee, named Tovey, who was entrapped in the basement of the Tate Gallery. The officers divested themselves of their clothes and dived info the room and brought 1 oyey out. First aid was rendered, and following recovery bo was handed over to the care of workmen. Both officers were injured and exhausted, and have been placed on the sick ILt. . .„ “I’.G. Grimes was discovered in nimcultios bv another constable. Grimes had endeavoured to rescue some horses, and fell into 7ft of water. Ho was rescued, and, after first aid was rendered, was taken to Westminster Hospital, where he was found to he suffering from collapse. His action, however, was instrumental m savino- two • horses. Twenty horses were rescued by P.C.’s M’Cormaek, Ball, Daly, and Elgftr, four mounted men. by members of the public, from Bailey’s yard, Ilorsefcrry road. At one time of the rescue the horses’ muzzles were just above the water. 0F DOGS, Nowhere along- Die Thames was the death-dealing tide more (leva, stating than at the Isle of Dogs; but Jiere. because the river lore of the local inhabitants led them to expect the disaster, there was no loss of life. , , , Within a few minutes of the tide bursting over the banks of the river and rushing down the slopes into Wostfcrry road, the three-mi!cs-long road that encircles the island, hundreds of rooms normally used as bedrooms were filled. Most of the men on the island work on its wharves and docks, however, and, knowing that a groat ' tide was coming, watched its slow growth and warned inhabitants a few minutes before disaster came. With the police they rushed about knocking up famine's and petting them to upper rooms. From thousands of windows thoroughly aroused people saw the first great torrent come rushing down little tracks that lead from tho river, a boiling, tumultuous torrent several feet high that flooded two miles of Wcstferrv mud within a-onarter of an hour. Then the water rose until basements on both sides of the tboroughtaie were full and the level halfway up ground floor walls. OIL AND PAINT ASTRAY. With a roar a large dock warehouse collapsed. Barrels of oil and paint tore through a wall at Fenners wharf, rushed through front gardens of houses, demolishing the railings, and crossed a green and then swirled along the main street, now flooded to a depth of from 6ft to 7ft. Water carried oil and paint into hundreds of flooded- shops and houses, doing scores of thousands of pounds’ worth of damage to shop stocks, humble furniture, and wall decorations. Then, as six of the appliances at the Poplar sub-stiuion came under the torrent, the electric lights failed. In the near distance could be heard tho collapse of a great wall of a disused wharf, water having rushed into a dry dock and then overturned hundreds of tons of masonry. MOAT AT THE TOWER FLOODED. The low-lying part of East London from Tower Bridge downwards suffered considerably. One of Die worst spots was the vicinity of Narrow street. Limehouse, tiic home of wharfingers and stevedores, familiar to all Dickcnsin.ns - . The old moat at the Tower of London was flooded 15ft deep, and the damage done by water in city warehouses amounted to thousands of pounds. Biackwall tunnel was closed to tramc on Satin’day, and firemen were engaged to pump it dry., Woolwich Arsenal was extern, sively flooded. At Deptford the flood broke down a wall 18ft high and 2ft tbiclc. About 120 families in Grove street, Deptford, were flooded out. In one street the water reached to the glass of a street lamp. A TIDAL BORE. Lord Desborongh, chairman of the Thames Conservancy Board, said that the tide was the highest ever known in the Thames. In his opinion Dio water coming down from the higher reaches of the river had very little to do with that high tide. Even the flow of 0.000.000.000 gal a day. which was recently reached, did not amount to very much when it got into the estuary. What had happened was that the tidal Thames amounted almost to a tidal bore rushing in from the North Sea. Fie reiterated that it began down the river and not up the river.