The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-10-22 00:00:00

THE STORM ON THE CONTINENT.

Friday's gale extended to Paris, but was less violent I
than in the North of France. At Havre two sailors
were drowned through leaning over their boat to pick
up an oar. At Dieppe the sea was rougher than had
been known for years, the jetty and lighthouse being
constantly invisible in the waves and spray. At Lille
a tree fell on a child three years of age, who is now in
a precarious state. Near Roubaix a farmer was killed
by a wall falling on him. At Boulogne a lady was
killed by a window falling on her. At Calais there
had been no such hurricane since 1858. At Rouen
the streets were strewn with fragments of roofs and
chimneys.
On Friday afternoon all North Germany was visited
by a storm almost unprecedented in violence, which
raged till early on Saturday morning, causing great
damage to property of all kinds, and even serious loss
of life. From all the chief towns (says a Berlin tele-
gram), come reports of danger and ruin, of trees torn
up by the roots, of scaffolds overturned, dwellings un-
roofed, chimneys and steeples struck and toppled over,
farmsteads and mills consumed by lightning, cattle
drowned, towns inundated, telegrilph wires snapped,
railway trains belated, ships wrecked, and human
lives lost. Overland telegraph communication between
Berlin and all the chief towns of Germany was inter-
rupted, but the subterranean net of cables, which was
but lately completed, kept the capital on speaking
terms with the rest of the Empire except Munich,
Bavaria alone not yet having established a system of
sunken wires. Oh Saturday morning, however, tele-
graphic communication had been restored with all the
chief towns of Europe save London.
From the seaports of the German Ocean come sad
accounts of havoc. At Hamburg on Saturday morn-
ing high water had reached 18i feet, and from Gluck-
stadt it is announced that the Elbe and the Stoer
had risen in the night 12 feet above their normal level.
The Elbe, it is further reported, was covered with ruin
and wreckage, and the streets of Hamburg near the
harbour were inundated, many cellars being flooded. At
Altona se veralvessels stranded, and the loss in petroleum
especially is described as enormous. The Elbe is said nct
to have risen so much since 1855, and special measures of
precaution were taken against a bursting of the dykes.
From Bremen comes word of the wreck of five German
vessels and the partial safety only of the crows; while
Bremerhaven reports an estimated loss of 800 head of
farm animals thereabouts, from the inundation of the
low grounds, as also the stranding and destruction of
the two schooners Physician and Allen, both loaded
with heavy spars. The crews weris saved. The steam-
ship Delmarschen, from Tonning to London, with a
thousand head of cattle, was driven by the storm into
the Elbe, The cattle were knocked about in EO ter-
rible a manner that half of them perished. The
damage done to the coast on a line extending many
miles from Gluckstadt is immense. Dead cattle,
sheep, and horses are being continually cast on shore.
Splendid work has been done by the different Life-
saving Stations. More than twenty lives were saved
from three different wrecks by the Cuxhaven life boat
alone.
The reports which have reached ROlllB of the dis-
astrous effects of the hurricane which swept over the
southern Italian provinces during the night of the 9th
and the early morning of the 10th inst., are said to be
lamentable. The damage done in the basin of the
Asinaro is described as incalculable. All the crops,
vineyards, and gardens have been completely de-
stroyed, and many families reduced to a state of
misery. The railway line near Ca tanzary has been
washed away in several places. At lonica, further
south, four large railway bridges have been de-
stroyed, and throughout the territory of Gerace the
whole of the vine crops have been ruined, and
the high road through that district rendered impass-
able at several points. At Naples the storm was
equally violent; some of the streets were flooded for
several hours. The tramway line between Naples
and l'orre del Greco was injured. Near Posilippo a
small farmhouse and parts of the boundary walls of
two villas were ruined, and the bridge at Ponticelli
was broken. A Wise in the Via San Sebastiano, in
Naples, another in the village of the Arenella' and two
villas near the village of the Voinero wee.) e,ll struck
and injured by the lightning, and much damage was
done to the provincial roads.

LIFESOAT SERVICES.

During the storm of Friday the lifeboats belonging to th
National Lifeboat Institution were successful in saving th
lives of many persons on beard shipwrecked and foundering
vessels.

• The Pembrey (South Wales) lifeboat rescind seven men
from the steamship Laura Fell.
The Padstow lifeboat Albert Edward saved the crew of
two men and a boy from the schooner Favourite, driven on
the Doom Bar Sand.
The Aldborough lifeboat went to the rescue of the crew of
a schooner exhibiting signals of distress off Orfordpess.

The Ramsay (Isle of Man) lifeboat rescued the crew of
four men of the schooner Ulala. The lifeboat was so much
damaged that she had to be beached.
, The:kissingland lifeboat saved the crew of the brig Maria
llattlepool.
The Barnham (Somerset) lifeboat saved the creVrathree