FLOOD’S HORROR

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1935, Page 5

FLOOD’S HORROR

SCENE OF DESOLATION RESULTS OF BURST DAM ENTIRE VALLEY SUFFERS MANY DEEDS OF HEROISM GREAT ITALIAN DISASTER By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Rec. 11 p.m. London, Aug. 15. The floods caused by the bursting of the dam at Lake Ortecella have laid waste 300 square miles of land and bodies have been seen 12 miles from the homes they were in. It will probably be a week before the exact deathroll- is known. The damage is estimated to be £10,000,000. A young man standing on high ground saw the wall of water rushing towards his home. He ran and dragged out his father and mother, but all were caught and drowned.

Families marooned on roofs, in trees or trapped within their homes are still being rescued to-night from the frightful avalanche of water which flooded the eptire valley of the river Orba. Troops and members of the Red Cross toiled all day exploring shattered houses in a vast area of desolation in which were scattered bodies of men, women and children and carcases of horses and cattle.

In the meantime 10,009 people have been evacuated to higher ground owing to fears of a second dam bursting. The disaster was so sudden that the people had no time to reach the hills. Many had not even a chance of climbing to upper floors and roofs. The water tore some houses from their foundations and swept them away like paper. The victims were mostly women, children and aged people, as the more active were engaged in farm work on the slopes of the valleys. Some of these experienced the horror of seeing their homes engulfed, knowing that their wives and children were in them. Many rescuers performed deeds of heroism. One young man, by swimming, saved seven people from the rooftops. A cradle with a child in it was seen floating out of reach near Alessandria. The village of Rossiglione, ten miles south of Ovada, was razed to the ground by the flood waters from three rivers. The entire populations of some villages are missing. The dam which burst cost £600,000.