Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-11-01

Whole villages Washed Away and
Many Lives Lost

I
sion for twenty or thirty days, though not
IN the Alpine district so as to cause any
sad catastrophe button the night Of SUM
day the 27th efSeptember, terrific storm
broke upon the southern slopes of the
Alps, producing in few hours vast tor.
rents and avalanehes, under which roads,
houses and villages were swept away, and
large tracts OF fertile land were sunk Ia
mud and water. The storm of the 9th,
however, proved to be only the signal Of
disasters to come. For week since,
night and day, there has been but enc
continuous storm and cataract Of rain,
the results Of which are not yet known;
but which has already covered the whole
valley Of the Pc with a series Of inunda-
ti0ns.
'On the morning of the 18th we lefs
Lucerne to cross the ST GOthard road in
splendid weather, and in total ignorance
of the catastrophe Of the 9th Immedi>
ately after leaving FaidO the signs of de-
structiOn began The road had been
torn up at intervals BY torrents descend
ing from the precipices above, and swept
by avaianches Of earth, stone and timber.
As We passed on the destruction became
worse. Orchards; woods, vineyards, and
chalets were seen to have been hurled in
a mass across the valley, which they Gov
cred with ruins, and for long tracts not
only had every trace of rOad disappeared,
but every trace Of cultivation itself; SO
that what used to be once a rich country,
teeming with produce, and traversed by
a massive eansewsy, had returned to its
primitive state Of torrent bed and waste
Of rock. T.Ff -s. .rf
"AtGiOrnicO q huge avalanche Of earth,
mud and timber had swept away one end
OF the village, buried part of it and the
road twelve or fifteen feet deep, and
| flooded the lower stories Of the houses
which still stood From GiOrnico Onwards
the valley had been at close intervals
torn by avalanches from above, before
which road homestead and vineyard,
| everything created by mans hand, had
| been cut down while the alluvial plain
in the midst, for miles together, was buried
in sand and rock, and had ceased to be
eultivable soil
| Sat BodiO the disaster has been great
| est. The whole village was swept by
torrent of mud and stone, which left
| scarcely q house standing, and buried
about twenty persons in the ruins. The
destruction was almost instantaneous.
The torrent which descends from the
mountain above had burst its channel,
and partially flooded the houses, wien
about midnight on the 9th a crash high
up the preeipiees was heard, and soon
stream of mud and rock swept over
the village, and almost buried II out Of
sight
AS We reached Biasca, where the
BrenO joins the TicinO, further disasters
| appeared The Bren0 was rising more
violently even than the Ticino, and threat
ened to cut the communication up the
main valley, which few hours after We
fOrded it did actually occur. The villages
| of this lateral valley had been swept By
aValanches, and in all Of them property
and cattle, and in some many lives, had
| been lost In a word, the whole valley Of
| the TicinO, which every tourist will re.
member as scene of continual beauty
and richness, has been desOlated; Tor
twenty or thirty miles its entire sources
of industry have been destroyed, and
great tracts Of it have been chang Cd from
the most fertile soil into desert Of sand
and rock.
"But what was happening in the valley
Of the TicinO was only aspecimen OF what
was Detailing many q valley Of the Alps
| At BellinzOna rumors more or less dis
tine were rife Of similar disasters in all
| parts of the range The ST GOthard road,
as a great highway, Is totally broken up
| on its southern side, and will not be e0m4
pIetely restored for months. The Ber-
| nardino and the Spiugen are also broken,
and greatbridges destroyed. The Simpion
road Is for many leagues fath0ms deep ia
water
Before reaching MagadinO the plsjns
we're seen 20 be for miles under water.
| and at length the road was itself sub
merged. Here, with no small difficulty
| and at some risk, boats were procured,
| and in the midst Of q furious storm Of
| wind, rain and lightning, the village Of
Magazine was reached, half sunk in the
| flood. The pier and all the Offices az the
| wharf were scarcely visible, and the lake
appeared to stretch rightacross the valley
| almost up to BellinzOna.
| Towards evening the steamboat pro-
| eeeded on her voyage down the LIgO
| Maggiore. As each town on the lake
| was passed it was seen that it was half
|
| and Luino showed only the upper stories
| above the waves; the road was itself sub
merged villas, churches and towns
stood in the midst ofthe lake At lntra
and Pallanzathe greatest injury occurred
| There the streets and houses were COW
cred by twenty feet Ofwater, and as they
were exposed to the gale from the south,
| md the bay was chOked with fragments
| of wood, several houses had been beaten
| down altogether, and many lives lost. On
| reaching the bay where the Tosa falls
| into the lake it was seen that the whole
| SimpiOn road from Aroma to Ornavasco
| was completely under water, and, indeed,
| the lower valley Of the TOsa, like thar Of
| the Ticino, was a simple arm of the lake.
| The great hotels and the villas with
| which this part of the lake Is bordered
| were submerged o their first and even
second stories, the postal and telegraphIc
| communication was cut of, the railway
/ station at Aroma was almost covered, ard
| the granite posts for the electric wires
| lust showed their tops above the water
Every town was more or less covered,
| and the inhabitants were Fastening in
boats 10 places Of safety, and removing
| kHlFL5 Oh buCiE AuEuAtlltC anu -ptINA1 ~
ders from the upper windows. The IIeno
was unable to carry of the pressure OF
waters, and had flooded lis whole valley
for leagues down the Lombard plain The
Laco MaggiOre, which hal risen about
twenty feet, was still rising at the rate OF
four or five feet in a few hours, and there
was every prospect for a still greater ris".
Nothing Of the kind has been known IN
the memory Of man, and the only ira.
dition Of such food appears to date
from one hundred and sixty years a.-r.
"The bridges over the Hicino, the Sesia,
the AIDA and the Pc, have given way ga
many places; the ordinary cOmmuniei-
ton between the cities Of North Italy IS
interrupted, and the lakes and the rivers
! draining the watershed OF the Western
and Central Alps have formed wide and
continuous inundatiOns OF the carnage
roa Is over tbs Alps from the Teuda u
the Stelyio the Mont Gents alone il PrIc,
ticable. In the whole southern watershed
of the Alps the country Is iloode't, uad
the roads destroyed and the ordinary
communication between the cities SO
North Italy is broken in a dozen OF tweay
different places
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION Oh InE
CHINESE.
China is receiving from the Roman
Catholics, as well as from the Protest
ants, good deal Of valuable educational