FLOOD DISASTER IN FRANCE.
OVER 100 RILLED. ' • DAMAGES £2,000,000. -<■-:■ ".■"'..•UiK'. •■ i ;^Ephstal, April 27. T. •'•(./■■ ;r. i. •>'■•*•■ - : i.i': •' .•„.!..'. i.- if ■■' .'-■ rr i A. terrible disaster* attended w. ifti great lossjof • life, -has overwhelmed a Jarge tract of country between this town and Chatel, eleven miles to the north. At five o'clock this morning the great dam of the Bousey Reservoir, a few miles to the west of this town, suddenly burst. The reservoir,! which, -foifms a feeder for the southern branch of the Eastern Canal, has a capacity of no less than 7,000,000 cubic metres* and this* huge quantity of water, suddenly liberated .through the bursting of the dam, rushed down the valley of the .£yie"re.,, with tremendous f orce. ..-.'■'■-*■' Tow ,i,wavio»4, ciiia now oi water let into the canalput such a strain on the banks that they, too, burst above the village^f Bo,useY, and the whole of the water ;cp,nitained m this section of the canal, over six miles m length, also poured down with the torrent from the reservoir, until the whole section from the lock above tbe.breaeh to the lock below had , been .completely emptied. Had the water Been able, to" spread^ over any great "extent of., ley.el, /tl\e 'disaster would not h.a¥e been so' serious, as the flooding of the surrounding country would, have b eer* gradual.. But the Epinal ..region,. is. alm.osfc. mountainous, and; the .winter, .hemmed m ,pn either side by high hills, , tore, ;down; the. , narrow valley into which it poured m a huge wave, carrying away nouses, farm-build-ings, bridges,. trees, and^yeq whole plantations, finally emptying itself into the Moselle .at Nom'exy and Chatel. yong the.whole o£ jthevalley thus swept by the inundation, a distance £j nearly ten miles, the damage done was enormous. Several villages situated -[i n the valley of the Ayiere, which ordinarily is quite a small stream, were completely inundated.. . , .- . , ; , . - ■; .. - -;,- --■ The village pfjjSousey, situated directly below : theieserypii3,ha.sb.eeri completely destroyed. . HjOqses,, mills, ti*ees, everythiiigj J^ave t been swept away, a few torn stumps marking", the place where a picturesque plantation of pines had stood. In the broken branches of one or two solitary trees that have escaped hang : such melancholy evidences of .the devastation aa, bits of bedding, stools, articles of cloth jag, aud, .other, .similar relics of ruined homes. , At Les, ,For.ges, .a place, of 1400 inhabi: tafat&j only afew houses' rem'airt.' ' At Uxegny, a village of 600 inhabitant^ , the , loss of, life ,was especially great, persons having been drowned. ' 'At Darnieulles, the'nexfe village,' with 500 inhabitants, .6veA'yJJUJlding has been sw_epi.aAajV— -. ~. .... At Nomexy a number of the inhabitants perished. Although this village i$ nearly ten miles from thebrbkehdam'the rush of the water was so sudden that many were caught before they could reach either higher ground or get up into the ; upper stories of the house, which were flooded to a depth of more 'than six feet; Great distress prevails. Numbers of small farmers are ruined. Hundreds of people are homeless, and owing to the early hour at which the catastrophe oc--■cur-red^ -many have lost even their clothes, having: escaped, m their night garments . without having had time to dress themselves. • ~ , Many of the inhabitants, too, are m actual want of food, all the provisions m their villages having been either washed away .or spoiled, i-. r ' The railway between Epinal and Chauimont is interrupted, at .Darnieulles, and the line between here, and Nancy is also flooded and quite impassable. The line was completely carried away for a distance of 100 yards, while on the opposite side of the roadway the . ruined houses were half-buried m mud and slime. ' ■•- April 2Bth." ! ■■ The Prefect of the Department visited yesterday, alii the districts affected "by the, bursting of the dam. Great desolatiPnprevails m those districts, and the distress of the inhabitants is extreme. The number of deaths from the disaster is now computed at 110, but only oner half, ; o£ (the dead..badies have : been recovered. .Measures have, been taken by the military' and the employees of the Public,. Roads Department, to assist m the work .of re-establishing communications, seeking for dead bodies, and the rapid pqirial , of the dead ,qattle. The destruction pf propijr.ty^ is roughly estimated at two millions sterling. The whole region affected is strewn with wreckage and with the bodies of many sheep, cows, and other live stock that perished m the deluge. The rivulet I'AvierejWhioh m its normal state is only about two and i a half; yards broad, has been converted into a ,vast lake a mile ..and., a- half m breadth. The railway especially; m ..the neighbourhood of Darnieulles Station, has been torn up and .swept away.j the rails being scattered at, a distance of. frptn, ten to a dozen yards from the line,, while embankments have been , qarried\ avyaj" bpdily. The torn up roads ,ari4.niud-cpvere4 fields were strewn with trunks of trees, household furniture, and debris of every deaseription. JSearly every bridge m the line of the flood has been either destroyed, or so seriously damaged as to require recpnstruction. 1 The dam, which was begun m 1879, was finished m 1884, and was greatly strengthened, about six years ago. It was constructed of strong' mason work, and was 550- yards m length, with a height of 66ft, and a thickness at the' base of 66ft, while the stonework was carried iuto the ground to a depth of 30ft below the level of the valley into which the!] ,-re.ser.yoir. , discharged its waters. Built as it was against a vertical face of solid rock having a minimum height of 18ft, and' its. base resting on a sandstone bottom, the natural formation of the ground and the massive, character of the structure seemed to guarantee complete solidity. As a matter of fact it had never given any indications of being too weak to stiand 'tlie' strain Upon it.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18950620.2.35
Bibliographic details
Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1785, 20 June 1895, Page 4
Word Count
972FLOOD DISASTER IN FRANCE. Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1785, 20 June 1895, Page 4
Using This Item
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.