A SUDDEN MENACE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16542, 9 January 1928, Page 7

A SUDDEN MENACE

FLOODS IN ENGLAND , WORST'IN MEMORY MANY TRAGIC INCIDENTS. lEleo. Tel. Copyright— United Prwa Asanj (N.Z., and A.P.A., and Sun.) LONDON, January 7. After the blizzard and floods, British people were beginning to think this winter was rather exceptional, when tho country yesterday was swept by a great gale, and at least 20 were killed and many injured. There was also widespread damage. Tbo wind swept over Spurn Head at 86 miles an hour. It was much more moderate in London, but a gust of 53 miles an hour was recorded at Hew. A woman was killed by the collapse of a wall at Kilburn. A roof blown off a house killed a cyclist at Northampton. A little girl was struck on the head by a packing-case blown from a van, and' died at Peterborough. A motor-cyclist was blown from his machine and killed at Bromley. Telephone poles and wires are down everywhere. The Peninsular steamer Razmak, leaving Tilbury docks for Bombay, was blown against the Mooltan. Skilful seamanship resulted in only a slight grazing of the Razmak’s bridge. The Thames Embankment is flooded from Tate Gallery to Blackfriars. Che person was drowned, jyul' it is feared there are four other .deaths. RIVER; INVADES LONDON. The Thames Embankment is a remarkable sight, especially at Westminster, where water is cataracting over the parapet and flooding the foot of Big Ben and Old Palace yard, to a depth in some places of a foot. There are miniature waterfalls ,at Cleopatra’s . Needle. The famous training ship, President, and all other craft are floating above the street level. ' ’A public subway near Westminster bridge is. flooded to a depth of 4ft. Tram cars were brought to a standstill, and electric lights put out. The only spectators of the strange scenes were policemen, belated dancers, and “ down-and-outs,” whose slumbers on the embankment seats wore disturbed. The, scenes were due to the combination of the high tide with flood water from tho upper reaches. People were rescued from houses on horseback. A man was drowned in a basement room while asleep. A taxicab standing outside a garage in Page street was washed away. Several workmen were Seriously injured by a scaffold collapsing at Belfast, where a wind (of 57 miles an hour was recorded. The Thames floods are unprecedented. Even Richmond and Twickenham were invaded and street traffic was suspended. Lower down the river the convent at Islesworth was marooned across flooded fields. Water demolished the walls of the ancient ’ palace below Richmond. A NIGHT OF TERROR. A woman’s body lying iu a coffin floated away. The principal incinerators were flooded, preventing the collection of garbage" for several days. Kew Green ami the Royal Gardens, also Chiswick on the opposite side of the river, are severely damaged. At Fulham, high tide water rose above the stage in the theatre. . Chelsea and Pimlico districts are in. undated, the river for 50 yards breaking its banks in the vicinity of the Palace. Many people living in these thicklypopulated districts were driven out of their homes. It was a night of terror all through the flooded areas. In one case a bedridden woman of 80 years was caught in the basement. A Inan dived iu and found the bed floating against the ceiling. Rescue was impossible. Escapees clad in night attire crowded the streets, the children being terrorstricken.. The police reserves were called but. • Mounted men traversed the streets, knocking at the doors, rousing the inhabitants and rescuing many on horseback from windows. A man was ■ trapped in . tho basement, at Ponsonby Place. A hole was cut in the floor of the room above, and he was lifted out unconscious. Swans swam on Horseferry road. houses at Stamford street, parallel to the Thames, leading to Waterloo station, were inundated. Threo hundred women and children took; refuge ‘in a chapel. One hundred and fifty men ceased work at the Union Cold Storage Works when the ‘ water reached the machinery. Mr. Harry Day, M.P., telephoned that the furniture in his flat at Westminster was floating. WATER REACHES COMMONS. A boy asleep in a house at Broadwall, Blackfriars, was washed from his bed, but managed to scramble to safety. Another victim of the floods was an elderly woman who was drowned in the base ment of a house in Couston street, close to Vauxhall bridge. Firemen were pumping the. basements out at 3.30 o’clock this morning. The' tide is turning, and is helping to save the situation; River-side gardens and lands between Teddington lock and Hammersmith bridge are under water. It is the highest flood in living memory. Water flowed into the terraces of the House of Parliament and the House of Commons. The subway,. Horseferry toad, Westminster, was flooded 4ft. deep. The..residents of Ponsonby Place were warned by a lighterman hammering at the doors. The people rushed out in their night clothes It is believed 10 were drowned in Westminster basements, including the porter of the Tate Gallery, and others at Putney and Hammersmith. * The floods reached the jewel chamber in the Tower, the Blackwall'Tunnel and Lambeth Palace. Mounted police rescued terror-stricken women and children in many lowlying streets. . , The flobd, fortunately, did not invade the underground railway,. but the trams are at a standstill. In Lambeth and adjoining districts there are whole streets of houses where the water rose halfway upstairs. HAVCO ON SEA FRONT. Probably the worst financial viewpoint is below Blackfriars, where basements are filled. The damage will bo unknown until the water is pumped out. ■ Waves swept over the -bank outside the Tower and filled tho ancient moat. The Tower looks like its old self after centuries. The moat is 15ft. deep and 2ft; of water is upon the Guards’ drillground. A tidal wave played havoc on the east coast and swept whole colonies of beach huts seawards between Frjnton, Waltonand Clacton, festooned the village of Salcot wtih seaweed' and marooned Brightlingsea. The river at Blackwater rose, and upper stories were damaged, and also the wharves at Strood, Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham The flood slammed the door on a man who returned to a basement room for his valuables, and he was drowned River steamers grotesquely rode to Street, level. Underground railways are dislocated .by floods and power houses ar‘4 paralysed. ; Two servants Were drowsed in a basement at Hammersmith.

Remarkable .heroism was shown by Miss Frank Isse. After escaping from a flooded flat at Putney, she returned, and breaking a window and swimming around the room, rescued several others. Nevertheless, two drowned bodies are still unrecovered. Priceless pictures housed in the basement of the Tate Gallery, mostly Turner sketches, were soaked, and it is feared many are ruined. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. This is the mast sudden and serious flood in London in living memory. An observer describes it as the worst shock to ,London’s complacency since the war, revealing a parlously weak spot in the defences of the metropolis which cannot bo repaired by the mere extension and strengthening of embankments. The Thames has developed a menace unknown for upwards of a century, because the national system of land drainage lias fallen hopelessly in arrears. Taking stock of last night’s amazing flood, it is believed .the deatli roll is 20, including four sisters named Harding, ranging from two.years to 18 years, who were drowned in an Embankment basement. They must have been instantly overwhelmed. Mr. Harding, an artisan, had a terrible experience. The girls were sleeping in one room in tho base ment. Mr. Harding rushed down and ‘heard the girls’ pitiful cries to “open the door,” but the water was so deepthat all his powerful and prolonged desperate exertions were unavailing, and he had to give up the attempt and 1 go upstairs to rescue his wifo and other children. There was no recurrence of the floods to-day, but the Port of London Authority issued a warning that they may ho repeated, as tho tides are likely to in crease till Tuesday. Breaches in tho embankment ■ wall have been temporarily repaired with sandbags. The corrected death roll is now 14, mostly in Westminster, where poor people in tenements were the worst sufferers. . Heroic efforts "to rescue those imprisoned were made last night by the polico and neighbors, who went to the doors arousing sleepers. Many victims of the Thames flood, including hundreds of owners of valuable motor-cars, inundated in ,Putney garages, are amazed to find that the insurances are void, as the insurance companies declared the flood is an act of God. RELIEF MEASURES PROMPT REPLY TO APPEAL ,i (N.Z., and A.P.A., and Sun.) (Received Jan. 9, 10 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 8. Important places flooded 'include Woolwich arsenal, Billingsgate market, and the office of the Ministry of Pensions at Ivew. This entails delay in paying ex-servicemen pensioners, but the British Legion is attending to cases of necessity. The Salvation Army is distributing food in the poorer areas and has established kitchens. The Mayor of Lambeth, who has opened a fund, states .that thousands of people living in basements virtually lost everything. A large number of societies responded to an appeal for immediate relief. Everybody is assured of beds and meals. Veterinary surgeons are treating gratis hundreds of cats, dogs, and poultry. Many houses are condemned in tho Horseferry road area as dangerous. Every precaution has been taken to deal with a repetition of the flood. All basements and ground floors in the danger zone have been evacuated'. Polico patrolled the embankment, and shelter and food 1 have been provided for the temporary homeless, and several relief funds opened. At midnight large crowds of sightseers from theatres and l parties assembled on the embankment. The river was high, but high water was safely passed without the floods recurring anywhere. Their Majesties have telegraphed to the" Mayor of Westminster sympathising with relatives of the flood victims. The King is contributing £IOO and the Queen £SO .to tho relief fund. ALL RECORDS ECLIPSED NEAREST COMPARISON IN 1235 * )'■ (Brjtish Official Wireless.* Rec. noon. LONDON, Jan. 8. The Thames rose 6ft. lin. above the predicted height in the course of Saturtfciy’s floods. No record exists of such conditions having occurred before. Historians state that the last Thames flood comparable with that of Saturday occurred'neariy seven centuries ago, in 1235.