SWIRLING FLOOD

Taranaki Daily News, 13 February 1933, Page 7

SWIRLING FLOOD

DESTRUCTIVE TIDAL WAVE DAMAGE IN NEWFOUNDLAND DOZEN VILLAGES WRECKED PENINSULA NOW AN ISLAND INHABITANTS ENDANGERED By Telegraph—Pi-ess Assn.—Copyright. St. Johns (Newfoundland), Feb. 10. Abou 450 fisherfolk on Sandy Point Peninsula took refuge in attics and bn roofs of cottages yesterday as a tidal wave flooded their village. Some fled along the narrow six miles strip of sand to the mainland, reporting that the water had caused heavy damage to their homes. The wave was swept in from the Bay of St. George on the west coast of Newfoundland by a terrific south-west gale, crushing one breakwater that protected Sandy Point. The swirling waters of the Bay of St. George, backed up under the force of the gale, carried the wreckage of a dozen coastal villages. Other villages, besides Sandy Point, reported losses of fishing stores, boats and gear valued at thousands of dollars. Fear seized a dozen villages on Friday as the full moon threatened to bring the highest tide into the bay that night. All communication with Sandy Point is cut off. The place is an island, following the breaking of the strip connecting with the mainland. If there is another high tide it will threaten the lives of the villagers as their escape is cut off.

The fisherfolk were still marooned today, as the swelling seas had swept away a section of the strip of land connecting their village with the mainland. The greater part of the village was under water, and the villagers spent the night in their attics.