Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-01-17
The Tempest on the Norlh Sea.

TOWNS AND VILLAGES DESTROYED.
The German correspondence of an Eng
fish paper gives the following condensed
narrative of the effects of the recent fearful
tempest in the North Sea;and along the Bal
tic coast, by which whole towns and VII
lagos were ruined, many lives lost, and
great suffering occasioned
" We will attempt to give some idea OF
the terrible devastation occasioned by the
high tide and fearful storm from the north
east on the 18th of November. This tide,
which reached its greatest height on the
coast of Schleswig at about 9 O'Clock at
night, was the highest ever known on the
shores of the Baltic, exceeding the great
tide Of 1894 by 25 inches in height, and that
of 1896 BY % inches. The water rose about
eleven feet above the mean level of the sea
On the shores of the Baltic which are quite
unsheltered. an inundation could not fail to
take place, against which all human exer-
tions and precautions were utterly power
less In the small town of Apenrade alone
80 houses have become uninhabitable. and
nearly $50 families have not a roof over
their heads. The news from Eckernforde is
still worse entire streets have been literally
annihilatod, while many of the buildings
left standing are undermined in their foun
dations to such an extent that they Will
have to be pulled down. The exact number
of dwellings totally destroyed in Eckern-
forde cannot vet be ascertained, but 1t Will
not fall far short of 100. Hundreds of in
habitants have lost everything house and
home furniture, agricultural implements,
cattle. supplies for the winter-they have
literally nothing left them. The news from
the district of luxembourg is most sadden-
ING. but here, too, the damage done cannot
be fully estimated as yet. On one property
$50 cows and 200 hogs were drowned !;
many villages have been inundated, and in
one of them from 40 to 80 houses have ben
destroyed. In several places human lives
have been lost in the village Of Dahme IL
persons are missing, and the death OF OF
them has been ascertalned. In the Island
of Femarn the family of pilot, consisting
of husband, wife and two children, who had
taken refuge on the roof of the house and
We're clinging to the chimney, were washed
away and drowned in the sight Of their
neighborS and of boats crew which had
already succeeded in saving the lives OF 81
persons. On this island the sea broke
through all the dikeS, and out of AZ villages
the fields and property of only IL escaped
the devastating flood. The entire coast OF
western Pomerania and the Island of Ru-
gen, with its projecting peninsulas and the
smaller islands lying around it, have also
most severely suffered.
The long and narrow island of Hiddensee,
near Rdgen. through which the sea once
before forced its way, has been divided into
two parts by a channel l. feet deep. Two
villages were completely inundated, and
had to be abandoned by their inhabitants,
numbering - families Their houses are
all saturated with water and have become
uninhahitable. Nitte was also entirely GOV
cred by the sea, and its inhabitants-70 fam
ilieS-had to be rescued from the garrets by
boats. Provisions, winter stores OF ali
kinds. and fuel have been washed away or
spoiled, and the wells are useless on account
of the salt water with which they are filled.
Want of shelter from the cold i bitterly
felt. and the unfortunate people have not
the primary neceSsaries of life. The chief
trade of the island has been totally destroy
ed a all the iishing-nets have disappeared,
and the boats were either knocked in piece,
or carried off by the sea.
The peninsula of Oars and the island OF
IingSt, the forelands Of a part of western
Pomerana. were also devastated by this
| unexampled inundation. The natural dike'
have been broken through IN five places
and the artificial dikes and embankments,
constructed not long ago at a heavy cost,
have been entirely demolished.
In the island of Zingst the water was
everywhere about three metres deep. Most
of the buildings have been entirely destroy
ed. and the remainder seriously damaged
The Inhabitants had to take refuge on the
roofs. where they passed whole day and
night without food All their property has
/ been destroyed or washed away. and their
I cattle drowned In the district of Franz
burg alone, i, 900 hectares Of cultivated land.
besides the forests, have been devastated and
rendered worthless for many years to come.
andmore than 900 inhabitants have lost all
their property, and are even without food.
Only small portion of the losses can be
made good by the exertions of the inhabi-
tants themselves, for it is laborers, mechan-
les, fishermen. and small farmers-in short
the poorest claSses-that have suffered most
by the inundatiOn