The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-01-06 00:00:00

THE FLOODS ON THE CONTINENT.

The correspondert of the Daily News, writing on
Sunday, gives the following particulars respecting the
floods which have taken place on the Continent :
A great calamity has overtaken all the districts
bot dering on the Rhine and its tributaries, comprising
large parts of the Rhenish province of Hesse, Baden,
Alsace, and tie Palatinate. Only four weeks ago
these rivers cased floods surpassing any since
1784, and, having barely retiree' to their normal
level eight days ago, they have now again reached
a height which threatens to surpass that of Novem-
ber. Hundreds of cities, towLB and villages
are again wholly or partially submerged. The
roads, railways, fields, and vineyards are flooded, the
houses destroyed, and lives lost. For miles on both
banks the water covers the country, causing wide-
spread devastation and suffering. Typhoid fevers
have broken out in consequence of the last floods.
The losses then, amounting to several millions, are
now more than doubled now. The present height of
the Rhine at different places is from 15 to 25 feet
above the normal level. After a heavy rainstorm last
night it continues rising slowly.

This city resembles a place in a state of siege. The
powerful engines of the pumping stations are working
day and night, and so far successfully in keeping the
water level in the canals and sewers below the Rhine
level, which now is fully ten feet higher than the
lower parts of the city. If the dams break and the
water reaches the fires a catastrophe is inevitable.
The Military Governor has placed large forces at the
disposal of the city authorities. Yesterday 2,000
Sappers and Miners built new dams along the river
front, and raised the railroad embankment. Detach-
ments of soldiers and firemen are placed at all the
exposed places. The gateways in the fortifications
along the river are walled up. In the chief streets
bridges are placed in readiness. The population in
the lower parts are ordered to be ready to fly if neceo-
sary. The authorities hope to :reep the city free of
water unless the Rhine rises two feet higher. The
boat bridge still holds, hut the station at Castel is
submerged three feet deep. At Frankfort the water
reaches the square before the Roemer. The doorways
of several churches have been walled up. Mannheim
and Worms are in great part submerged, and all the
lower parts of Strasbourg, Coblence, Bonn, and
Cologne. Two villages near Mannheim were nearly
destroyed when the dams broke and many lives were
lost. The Pioneers with pontoons rescued the sur-
vivo from the roofs. By the fall of the bridge at
Lorrach sixteen persons were drowned. The islands
in the river are again submerged, only the high trees
appearing above the water. The Moselle Valley,
from the French frontier to Metz, forms a great lake.
It will be a sorrowful New Year's Day for the
Rhinelanders. _

GISNIATA, Sunday.
Accounts continue to be received from all parts of
the country of the devastation wrought by the rains
of the last week. Though it is now fine the high
temperature is melting the snow so fast that the
streams are still swollen, and the floods fall but
slowly. The Val de Travers is converted into a
vast lake. Communication between the villages is
carried on by boats. The Aar, Arve, Rhine, Rhone
—indeed nearly every river, in the country has over-
flowed its banks causing incalculable suffering and loss.
Many of thi valleys in Graubuenden have been
visited with destructive avalanches. Falls of rock
and avalanches have interrupted the train service on
the St. Gothard Railway, and a landslip has destroyed
a kilometre of the Simplon Railway, near Siders ; the
traffic cannot be resumed for a fortnight. Many of
the roads are rendered impassable, and there is hardly
a line in the confederation the bridges and permanent
ways of which have not sustained serious damage.
Another day's rain—and there are ominous signs of a
return of bad weather—and travel and traffic would
have become alike impossible.
VIENNA, Sunday Night.
I have just returned from the river Darnbe vrhic's
has overflowed, flooding not only the left haul:, who ,)
the land is uncultivated, but the right also. TLe
Danube navigation docks and storehouses are entirely
surrounded by water. The quay, with its broad,
stone steps, is submerged. Of the lamp-posts, nothing
is visible but the lamps. All the houses along the
right bank are surrounded by water. Provisions are
taken there in boats. The river looks like one enor-
mous lake, spreading many miles inland. The
steamers are anchored ready to take off persons when
the dangerincreases. From many of the small towns
along the Danube news of great danger reaches us, but
there has been no loss of life yet. This afternoon the
thermometer suddenly fell seven degrees (Celsius).
The water also began to fall. At six it was two centi-
metr6s lower than at four.