HOMES SWEPT TO SEA

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1929, Page 7

HOMES SWEPT TO SEA

LOSS OF TWENTY-SIX LIVES

EARTHQUAKE AND TIDAL WAVE.

NEWFOUNDLAND DISASTER.

Vancouver, November 27.

Deeds of heroism, eelf-sacrifica and miraculous escape during the 15 minutes when, early in the morning, a tidal wave caused by a huge earthquake under- the Atlantic, swept 24 souls to eternity on the south-eastern shore of Newfoundland, are being revealed with the initiation of relief by the Canadian Red Cross. So short was the notice that the telephone operator at the little settlement of Burin was unable to the alarm. She escaped with her lite as the telephone ofllce was swept into the sea. As the incoming sea reached its height, houses were flung back with succeeding waves two or throe times. Thon, as the water receded they wont out to sea with the speed of a steamer. The story of the rescue of a baby by a Newfoundland dog is a feature of the record. This was at Port-au-Bras, where nine people wore lost. The dog plunged into the sea as the house was swept* away, carrying his master, wife and baby girl. The dog was sighted swimming toward the shore, the baby held high out of the water. Dumping it on the shore, whore willing hands revived it, the dog dashed back into the water, reaching tho house, only to be crushed when it collapsed. Both his master and mistress also perished. UNFORGETTABLE INCIDENTS. The tragic sight of a woman with a lamp standing in tho window of her house as it was carried out to sea was a spectacle that will long remain memorable in a chapter of unforgettable incidents. Seeing the incoming flood, a man rushed to save his family. Ilia path was blocked by another house floating by. Before his eyes his house passed by him, his wife and children in it. Ho was too late to save, them, and the house and inmates were swallowed up.

Ono man placed his wife on his back, and with a child under each arm, waited until his houpe was swept back on the crest of the wave. He jumped to safety as his houso was swept out for the last time. Captain Ilollitt, of Burin, said:

“I had just finished my meal, in company with the mate of the Daisy, when the wave hit Burin. My house is 40ft. above sea level, and the water entered the first floor to a depth of three feet. I rushed out and saw the harbour filled with houses and wreckage.

“The store of the Hon. C. A. Bartlett, member of the Legislative Council, which was GOft. long by 40ft. wide, was lifted from its concrete foundation and carried inland for a distance of a quarter of a mile. It was stocked with winter provisions ami supplies, yet not a thing was damaged. My own store was destroyed and the stock scattered all over the harbour. Eight houses were swept away.” SEA’S DESTRUCTIVE FORCE. “The sea cut a hole sft. deep and 10ft. wide through a solid wall of bluestone, and created a harbour where there had not been one," said Father Miller, a Roman Catholic priest, who had many narrow escapes as he ran from place to place, rendering assistance. The deaths totalled 26.

The little peninsula, ft narrow outpost of Southern Newfoundland, was in a direct line with the epicentre of the break in the Fundian Fault, which shook the steamship Olympic 650 miles out at sea, making the officers believe the vessel had struck a submerged wreck.