TIDAL WAVES

Southland Times, Issue 22294, 9 April 1934, Page 5

TIDAL WAVES

DISASTER IN NORWAY CRAG CRASHES INTO FIORD VILLAGES WRECKED (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) Oslo, April 7. Forty people, including a family of nine, were killed when a huge crag crashed into Korsnaes Fiord, creating three tidal waves which swept inland for half a mile. Two small fishing villages were overwhelmed and the ground was littered with debris of houses and boats. It is feared that other villages were also destroyed. A later message states that it is believed that over 50 are dead. Forty bodies have been recovered in the village of Tajford and there are only seven survivors in the village of Fjoearaa. The crag fell 6000 feet, causing scenes so terrible that eye-witnesses declared that they believed the day of judgment had arrived. Waves 30 feet high hurled motor-boats and other vessels against the houses, many occupants being trapped in the wreckage. A great column of flame shot up when the waves reached an electricity transformer. A mother with three children in her arms climbed out of a window on to the roof, but rising waters swept them away. A father carrying his son ran up a little hill and held the boy up at arm's length until he was submerged. The child was saved half-drowned. Residents dragged boats across country and rowed in the darkness searching for survivors.

The waters subsided within 25 minutes. The disaster is the worst in Norway for 20 years.