Delaware State journal and statesman. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1855-1870, 1861-02-12
TERRIB1E INUNDAr1oN IN HoLLANp.

BREAKING OF THE DYKE-DIsTKEss AMosG
THE PkoPLE.-A correspondent of the London
Daily Neses, writing from Rotterdam on the 10Th
January, describes terrible iuundation which
had occurred in Holland :--t'In the beginning
OF january it was observed that the vast accumu-
lation of snow in this district was causing the
rise of the river TO dangerous extent With
anxiety and dread the Inhabitants watched the
daily increase of the invading waters now laden
with immen-e masses Of ice, and atrenuousiy
exerted th' mselves to strengthen the resistance
| offered by those artificial BARRIERS by which
alone Holland is preserved from total submer-
sion But still the flood rose, and the lce-masses
formed themselves as it We're. into huge batter
ing-arms, pressing with their Irresistible strength
against their dykes and dnms
The sound Of the church bell, clear and omin-
Gus in tine frosty air, kept telling tho sad tale OF
imminent danger, and warning all who could
labor to aid in the good cause, and those who
could not TO prepare for the worst. Higher and
higher rose the waters, and soon the surface Of
tho ponderous shifting ice-mass stood within
half an inch Of the dyke-level. Good God
should it rise that halfinch higher their cottages
their cattle, their provisions, their all would
become a prey to the unsparing havoc Then
rose TO heaven many a prayer for help-for
mercy At last bulging out in the dyke di-
reeted the anxious gaze of all to one spot--for
the waters were pressing hard upon ii. With
the strength and energy Of deHpair they tried TO
stay the progress of the food as it sought egress
from its narrow channel into their fields aud
dwellings Xerxes as well tried to bind the
ocean in chains
"Suddenly the dyke yielded, and the waters
poured through-the ice masses and the food
rose above ii, and swept on in their terrific
course submergng fields, barns and cottages,
drowning the cattle, destroying ALL The aged
and the sick, the women and children, sought
refuge in their altics, where, benumbed with
cold, without bedding, olothes fire or provisions,
they had to pass days of inexFressibe terror
of horrible starvation. For n long time it was
impossible to approach them, and it is feared
many cottage has been swept away in the food,
and its inhabitants frozen to death on the ice
masses. One family Of seven persons were
rescued from the attic in which they had sought
shelter, so thoroughly exhausted by cold and
hunger that they could not even answer the
questions of their deliverers.
A poor mother with her infant to which she
had given premature birth, was lying in bed in
the bleak attic of her homely dwelling, while her
husband, from an aperture in the roof, sought
by cries and Signals, to attract the attention Of
few brave men, who, at the imminent risk Of
their lives, we're endeaVoring to make their way
between the ice-blOcks in order to rescue some
Of their perishng fellow creatures from desiruc
ton. They went to the poor fellows help, de-
seeHded into the attic through the aperture in
the roof, through which they returned, bringing
with them the mother and her babe It was
time, for the waters had already risen to within
two inches Of her bed.
"As | write, fresh intelligence arrives from
the inundated districts detailing additional scenes
If wretchedness--peuple aging from hunger and
cold their houses cut away by the ice, as corn
is mOwn down by the harvesters scythe; a
church which as stood hundreds Of years swept
down, as puff of wind sweeps down a house Of
cards and the prospect is even vet more fear
full. Holland has often suffered much from in
uudalions, but never within the memory of living
man has an inundation been accompanied with
so much distress and deshuotiou-with 50 much
nearl-rendng greet and despair"