The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-07-20 00:00:00

DISASTROUS FLOODS AND LOSS OF
LIFE.

The Nheflield Correspondent of the Nily Telegraph gives
thc following accuunt of the floods in Yorkshire

The eve of St. Swithin's finds a considerable portion
of the south•west of Yorkshire almost wholly under
water, and the people so dispirited by diurnal drench-
legs that they have ceased to be even meteorologically
interested in what the morrow may bring forth. If
Cumberland had not been bet re no in acquiring a
property in the title of the 'lake district," we might
with a good show of reason, put in our claims to
that ,ppellation, for we are surrounded on all sides
by i and seas, the inconvenience of which is rendered
dol. 4 distressing by lack of means of navigation.
Tr. • Itother and Don ordinarily very peaceful,
ale ,sish streams, made up partly of sewage and
pal t;y of water, have assumed tremendous proportions,
an rush along with terrific force as if they had been
usi,.t.ty rivers from the beginning; the roads for miles
arc e oked to foot passengers, except such as are adven-
tur us 'tough to wade or swim to their destination;
the line of railway between Rotherham and Doncaster
is metamorphosed into a canal, and suggests steam-
bctTs and wherries lather than loeomoti‘e engines;
th bona fide canals haveljoined issue with the rivers
in seeming emulation of their destructive powers.
Such terrible floods have scarce ever before occurred
in the Riding, and those who remember— if any can be
said not to remember—the bursting of the Bradfied
dam, and the havoc wrought in the valleys by the im-
mense body of water as it swept like a fury over
I houses, fields, and mills, say that the roads are now
more rutted, and the marks of desolation more wide-
spread, than even after that memorable calamity.
. _

To give a just notion of our condition I will describe
what I saw in my round of inspection. As a matter
of course it was almost impossible to procure a vehicle
of any sort, all the conveyances having been taken
possession of by the Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway Company as substitutes for the
ordinary trains, which not even high pressure boilers
could drag through the mounds of sand and mass of
water by which the permanent way was eradicated. I
had scarce got half-a-mile on the high road from
Rotherham to Parkgate when I found myself in the
middle of an artificial stream, the surface of which
reached my horse's girths, and the power and force of
which threatened to test the beast's acquaintance with
the art of swimming. To the right was the Rather, and
the left the railway ; but, for all the difference I could
see the railway might have been the Bother and the
Rother the railway. The only indication of the direc-
tion of the line was that afforded by the tall telegraph
poles, a few of which were standing. The trees, too,
served to show that the sea was not a genuine one, and
an occasional pig washed away from friends and family
found in these stalwart specimens of vegetation a
refuge wile, eon it perched with a woebegone, forlorn
aspect, as if it had come to the very climax of porcine
despair. Horses and sheep were carried onwards
by the eutreat, and at one time there passed bete e
me quite a miscellaneous assortment of portable
property, the least valuable of which was the foreleg
of a bedstead, and the most prominent a wash-
tog tub. By-and-bye, I came to a row of colliers'
houses, the inhabitants of which gave me s
friendly welcome from the upper storeys, where all
communication with the outer world As carried on.
In one case a child was carried away by the flood al-
most from its parents' doorstep. It fell into the water,
and in a moment was whirled off amid the shouts and
cries of the father, who witnessed the sad micurrence.
Net only this weak child, but also a strong man was
carried away, how or when no one knows. The body
was washed on a high sand-hill, awl still remains
unidentified. For two miles or more, through
Parirgate-road and Greasborough, my way lay right
through a strong river, and my horse needed all the
firmness and energy he possessed to make headway
agaiust the current. It was strange to see water only
where there should be green fields, and still stranger
to note the effect produced by the tops of trees
rising above the flood
,like old landmarks in a new

deluge. As I neared Parkgate Railway Station
there came up, half floating, half dragged by horse-
power, one of the extemporised omnibuses in which
passengers were conveyed through the district. I was
told that a sanguine engine-driver, confident of his own
resources, and properly proud of the strength and in-
domitable energy of his engine, had volunteered to go
through the fined at all hazards. Permission was
granted, and a sort of train was made up, with which
this Trojan of enginemen started on hie— speaking lite. ,
rally—perilous voyage. He did go through the flood,
and brought his engine home safe; but the difficulties
that beset him are best shown by the fact that he was
five hours in going the distance, ordinarily done in
the same number of minutes. By way of curiosity
I peeped into one railway station and the state
of things there was the reverse of cheerfuL A small
clerk in great jack-boots was perched on the top of a
stool, the legs of which were lost in the water with
which the room was flooded. The boy spoke of his
books and some of his private property haring gone
out to sea at the height of the flood ,• the furniture had
been carried off also, and he himself had preserved a
pr. carious existence in the jack-boots, which the gener-
ous liberality of his emplo) ere placed at his disposal.
The platform had totally disappeared, and the station-
master, with his family lived as near the roof as
possible. The carriage road to Wentworth House
looked like the bed of a river; and I am told that
great damage has been done to the Wentworth
estates. Greasborough dam—a large body of water
belonging to Earl Fitzwilliam-- has caused some
alarm to the inhabitants of the locality on ac-
count of the insecurity of the embankment, part of
, which has been washed away. A wide aperture has
been made, through which rapid torrents pour down
the hill-aide, rendering it highly dangerous for the in-
habitants to remain in their houses. Indeed most
of them have fled at the waining of Captain Douglas, the
Earl's agent ; and the houses looked fearfully dilapi-
dated in their wet and cheerless desolation. Right
. .

on to Barnsley and Doncaster the scenes are pretty
much the Name; and the injury done to buildings, col-
lieries, crops, and live stock, is simply beyond calcula-
tion- The town of Sheffield, on account of its position,
has also suffered much from the water, and the damage
done to the street sewers and other property of the Cor-
poration will amount to borne thousands of pounds.
Se enes of the most miserable character are to be witnesmed
in the poorer neighbourhoods. On Saturday a boy bathing
in a brickfield was washed away, and up to the time I
write the body hat not been reenvered. Another boy
was swept into the Don near the Alexandra Theatre,
and drowned. This occurred in broad daylight, in
view of many people who were powerless to save the
unfortunate lad. In the district to the north and
north-cut of Sheffield the flood has caused immense
mischis f : at Doncaster houses are partly submerged,
and shops are not to be got at, owing to the state of
the streets. At Barnaley things are still worse, for
the manufacturers and railway companies have had
' property of great value ruined and colliers and iron
workers are idle on account of the predominance of
water. What all this will end in can hardly be told
at present, but I fear the result will be disastrous
poverty and starvation.