GALE IN BRITAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20876, 16 November 1929, Page 13

GALE IN BRITAIN

FISHING FLEET DISASTER. ELEVEN LIVES LOST. • HEAVY DAMAGE ON LAND. (British Official Wireless.) (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph -Copyright.) RUGBY, November 14. (Received Nov. 15, at 5.5 p.m.) The toll of the damage done in Monday’s gale cannot yet be fully estimated. It was thought that only three lives had been lost in the fishing disaster, but the latest information indicates that there were 11 deaths. Many of the boats engaged now carry wjreloss sets, and a broadcast warning b£ the approaching storm enabled some of them to haul in their nets in time. The ■ disaster has not caused a general stoppage of fishing, and many boats put to sea yesterday. On land great damage has been done by floods, notably in the Rhondda Valley, of South Wales, A largo part of a hillside at Pontygraith gave way yesterday fissures five feet wide and 70 feet long were discovered in the breast of the hillside, and the whole mass of thousands of tens of earth was moving steadily downwards. Ten families occupying .houses in the direct path of the landslide were yesterday ordered to leave their houses immediately.

A record rainfall for England and Wales was recorded at Pontypridd, where 8,3 inches was registered in 24 hours. Or the upper reaches of the Severn two bridges have been destroyed. Heavy losses of livestock and crops are reported from Staffordshire and Lancashire.