A NATIONAL DISASTER.

Wairarapa Age, 4 January 1926, Page 5

A NATIONAL DISASTER.

FLOODS IN EUROPE. 1 BELGIUM AND HOLLAND SUFFER. SERIOUS DISTRESS CAUSED. (Received Sunday, 5.5 p.m.) PARTS, Jan. 2. —Floods are extcnil- ' jnj to the provinces, some places alarmingly. Several million francs [worth of damage has been caused. Thousands of workmen arc idled in the north-east owing to the necessity for closing factories. At Amsterdam a dyke near Cuyck, rollaj -J, torrents of water rushing io {The situation is critical. The King and several Ministers visited the inundated regions. The Minister < J Labour has f ejegraphed unemployment pay to the flooded districts The possibility is being considered |of requisitioning thousands of pumps throughout the country and coucenIrating them on the flooded areas. Over 8900 houses at Liege are under heater.

Floods in the districts of the rivers Meuse, Waal, the Rhine and Lek have assumed the character of a great catastrophe. Railway dykes have collapsed in several places, and are threatening to . oilapse in others. The damage is so serious that it may be a month before railway traffic can be resumed. Several villages are practically (evacuated and cattle have been transferred ■ o higher land. The Belgian newspapers and Belgian [Bed Cross Societies have opened funds in aid of the victims of the floods, [which institute a national disaster. — !(A. ar - N.Z.) THAMES OVERFLOWS BANKS. I.IKELY TO GO HIGHER. . (Received Sunday, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 2.—Owing to widespread floods in England, many foot ball and hockey matches have been cancelled. The Thames overflowed its banks in (several places and is'still rising. Many . bungalows at Sudbury- and Chert scy were cut off, boats being employed to deliver goods.--(A. and N.Z.)