The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-07-16
From the London Post (editoriaIl, June %.
TERRIBLE FLOOD IN FRANCE.
3.oCo Houses Down - $50, 900. .OOO in PropeTI
known TO Have Been Lost.

1000 Houses Down - s6O,O0O. 900 in Property
known TO Have Been Lost.
The geographical position of France,
although in many respects highly favor
ed. is such as TO entail upon large dis
tricts of the country liability to be sud
denly deluged by the overflow of Hooded
rivers. At Toulouse such foundations
have occurred every twenty years-Or, at
least. in 1915, 1885, and 1S55-althOugh
never before to the same extent as at
present. or with the calamitOus conse-
quence TO life aud property which we are
now called up 10 record. In 1856 the
whole valley of the RhOne was visited in
n similar manner Lyons was for many
davs traversed by boats and not only
trees and cattle, but bridges, churches,
horses even whole villages, We're swept
away. and great numbers Of people We're
either ,lru,vn,d or buried amid fallen
ruins. But, when compared with the
iuundatiGn which now, we hope, sub
sided. all others sink into significance.
4 week ago TO day, our correspondent
tells Us, the River Garonne, at Toulouse,
was unusually high, but no serious dan
ger was apprehended. and no precautiOn-
ury measure were taken. On WedneS-
dav the water rose rapidly, and by 10
o'clock i'm the morning they had reached
the level of the Hood of 1855. At 2
o'clock two arches Ofa bridge and twenty
houses were swept away, and the float
ing swimming baths and laboratories
were torn from their mOOrings and hur-
ried down the torrent. At the water
overilowed the parapet which protects
the popuiOuS quarter of ST. Cyprian, at
Is it was ten feet deep in the streets, and
before night this quarter was cut off
from the rest of the town, the three
bridges of communication being destroy
ed. AL night the crash of falling houses
and
THE CRIFS AND SHRIEKS OF SUFFERERS
were heard. On Thursday the Hood be-
gan to abatr. and the water had fallen
six feet by the evening. In the town of
Toulouse clone, it is said, 900 persons
have pcriShed, and 90, 600 are left desti-
tute. Nearly 5000 houses have fallen,
and the destruction of property is rough
iy estimated at from Ef2, 600, OO0 to t13,
600. nuU sterling. The whole valley of the
Ciaronne is said to resemble n vast lake,
covered with fragments of the ruins of
the town, as we'll as with wreck brought
with corpSes, some Of them wearing the
costume of places twenty leagues away.
THE CAUSE OF THE CALAMITY.
In order to form an idea of the causes
of the inundation it is only necessary to
glance at the physical geography of the
department in which it has occurred.
They lie on the northern slope of the
Pyrenees, and are interseGted by numer-
uus and rapid rivers, of which four at
least mite to form the GarOnne before
it reaches Toulouse. There has been
heavy and continuous rain over the
whole Of the mountain range, and fall
of snow ut Luz, where it would directly
swell the head-waters of the GarOnne
Ii is said that at least n contributOry
cause is furnished by the great destrue-
ton of timber in the district during the
last century. Trees not only absorb
water largely from the soil, but they
also prevent the surface from. being
baked and hardened by the sun, and
they check the rapidity and abruptnesS
with which rain would otherwise reach
the ground When it falls unimpeded
upon dry and barren hill sides, it will
run from them almost us freely as from
the slOping roofs of houses, and n few
hours will carry the water of the noun
tain stream to swell the volume of the
nearest river. Ii is easy to be wise after
the event; but in a district so situated
there is great room for measures Of pre-
vention, and the riparian authorities,
whoever they may be, should be intruSt-
ed with powers commensurate to the
magnitude of the recurring evils, which,
by wise precautions, they might do much
To mitigate or avert. Even the tinny
floods which sometimes occur in this
country are often greatly aggravated by
local neglect, by some sitting up of
channel of IL stream, or by some i'll
placed bridge which forms an obstacle
10 the passage of an unusual body of
water. In rivers which are liable to be
swollen by mountain torrents, the chan
nels should be made the objects of I'M
ceasing solicitue, and the span and con
Struction of bridges should be deter
mined by other than purely local consid-
crdtionS.
Late dispaieiic= from Toulouse states
that only PIG bodies had been recovered
mp to that time, so that the above esti-
mate OF tlie dead by the Post must he
greatly exaggerated. The general dis
Olation and fearful suffering of the peO-
pie, not only in Toulouse, Eut all along
the valley of the Garonne is fully con
iiruad Eos. JEFF.