Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-07-16

The detailed reports of the recent terrible
floods in France show that the magnitude
of the disaster was not exaggerated In the
accounts received by cable. The devastat-
ed region lies in the south of France, and
was one Of the most fertile and densey
populated sections of that rich and beauti-
full country. II was dotted over with agri-
cultural villages and towns, the residents
in which were busted chiefly with the cul-
tivation of the vineyards. The principal
river is the Garonne, flowing from south
east TO northwest, and fed by three or four
streams of considerable size, besides in
Vulnerable mountain brooks. There had
been drouth for a month or moro, sulfi-
cient TO arouse apprehensions for tho crops,
when about the first of June rain COM
menced to fall, and the country people
were delighted at the prospect of an album
dant harvest. For three weeks the rain
fell, gently but necessarily, as if to atone
at once for the many weeks of drouth. The
streams rose very slowly, and there was
no indication of trouble until the 23d of
June, when the Tarn, one of the tributaries
of tho Garonne, overlooked its banks, and
an immense volume of water swept down
the Garonne, increasing constantly and
carrying everything before it. On both
sides of the river, thus swollen by the long
rain and the sudden accession of water
from its tributaries, stood the city of Tou-
louise, in the middle of the plain Of Gas
cony and Languedoc. II is the seventh on
the list of the larger towns OF France, and
has been an important centre Of industry
and commerce. Through this populons
and fourishing city swept the swollen riv-
er. There seems TO have been no opportu-
nifty TO warn the inhabitants of the peril
which was upon them, and although the
district was one that had long been subject
to floods, and it was known that the rivers
were rising, the most ordinary precautions
were neglected. The people were surpris-
cd in their houses, while about their ordi-
nary avocatiOns, and there appears to have
been no serious apprehension of danger
until escape was cut off. At ten o'clock on
wednesday morning, the 23d, the waters
reached the level of the flood of 1855 at
two O'Clock a bridge and several houses
were carried away; at five o'clock the
flood broke over the parapet which pro-
tected the crowded quarter of 81. Cyprian,
and in an hours time the water was ten
feet deep in the streets. The bridges con-
Meeting it with the rest of the town were
destroyed, and all night long the crash of
falling buildings and the cries of sufferers
were heard from the doomed district. Next
day the flood abatcd. a score of towns
and villages suffered, to greater or less
extent, in the general disaster, and several
were completely swept away; while many
miles of fertile territory were submerged,
and tens of millions of dollars damage was
done to the crops.
These are the bare outlines of disaster
which it is not easy to measure or describe.
There have been floods before in the same
district, in 1915, 1895, and 1855, but nothing
10 compare with this. If we imagine our
own Connecticut, suddenly swollen, break
ing over its banks and leaving a track of
desolation through villages and towns ald
fertile farms, from Springfield to the
Sound, we gain some idea Of the extent
and character of this great calamity. The
latest dispatches afford an opportunity 10
hope that the loss of life may have been
overestimated, but even with this allevia-
ton, the disaster remains one of the most
appalling of modern times.