The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-07-23
TIE GREAT DELUGE.


Millions of Dollars In Property Known
to Have Been Lost.
From the London Post CEditorial), June %.
The geographical position of France,
in many respects highly IA
vored, is such as to entail upon large
districts of the country a liability to be
suddenly deluged by the overflow of
flooded rivers. At Toulouse, such in
undations have occurred every twenty
years-or, at least, in 1915, 1885 and
1855-althOugh never before to the
same extent as at present, or with the
calamitous consequences to life and
property which we are now called upon
to record. In 1856 the whole valley of
the Rhone was visited in a similar man
ner. The streets of Lyons were for
many days Sraversed by boats, and not
only trees and cattle, but bridges,
churches, houses, even whole villages,
were swept away, and great numbers OF
people were either drowned or buried
amid fallen ruins. But when
compared with the inundation which
has now, we hope, subsidized, all others
sink into comparative insignifcance.
A week ago TO-DAY, our correspondent
tells us the river GaroDne, at Toulose,
was unusually high, but no serious
danger was apprehended, and no pre-
cautionary measures were taken. On
Wednesday the waters rose rapidly,
and by ten O'Clock in the morning they
had reached the level of the flood OF
1855. At two o'clock two arches of a
bridge and twenty houses were swept
away, and the floating swimming baths
and lavatories were torn from their
mornings and hurried down the torrent.
at five the water overlooked the para
pet which protects the pOpulOus quar-
ter of st. Cyprien at 6 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 cOmmu-
nication being destroyed. All night
the crash of falling houses and the
cries and shrieks of sufferers were
heard. On Thursday the flood began
to abate, and the water had fallen slz
feet by the evening. In the town OF
Toulouse alone, it is said, nine hundred
persons have persisted and 10000 are
left destitute. Nearly three Thousand
houses have fallen, and the destruction
of property IS roughly estimated al
from e12, ZOO, 900, to Els, 600, 600, ster'
ling. The whole valley of the Garonnt
is said to resemble a vast lake, covered
with fragments of the ruins of the
town, as well as with wreck brought
down from higher districts, and dotted
with corpses, some of them wearing the
costume of places twenty leagues away
Although it is upon this particular
district that the calamity has falleI
with the greatest force, yet the neigh
boring departments have also been ter
rible sufferers. In Aude the crops have
been extensively destroyed. At Bag
nieres de Bigorre the Adour has car
ried away bridges ard cottages. A
Verdun (Ariege) more than fifty house
have fallen, and many persons hav
been drowned. In Tarn-et GarOnn
crops have persisted and at Eerenonil
let. q village six kilometres from lou
louise, only three houses out of fOu
hundred are left standing. The railwa
between Bordeaux and Toulouse is Gu
in dozen places, and the whole couI
try is submerged. The power OF th
surrounding districts to assist tn
greatest sufferers is crippled by thei
own losses, and the communicate
with distant parts of the country
greatly impeded. It is doubtful wheti
er the description of what has actuall
happened will include even the create
part of the calamity. AS the water
recede surface saturated with moil
turs will be exposed, and this surfaC
will be strewn with the corpses of me
and animals in every stage of decOn
position. Exposed to the exhaIatioI
hence arising there will be large POI
ulation reduced to absolute want-dt
pendent upon charity for all the nece
saries of life, destitute alike of clothe
of food, of shelter and of employment
To communities thus situated diseai
comes with footsteps that are neith'
tardy nor uncertain, and it is only
the most prompt and energetic al
from external sources that the inhal
itauts of Toulouse can be saved frol
even greater ills, if such be possible
than those which have already befalle
them.
THE CAUSE OF THE CALAMITY.
In order to form an idea of the cause
of the inundation 1t is only necessary
glance at the physical geography of I'll
departments in which it has occurred
They lie on the northern slopes of til
Pyrenees, and are intersected by nj
merous and rapid rivers, of which
least four unite to form the GaronI
before it reaches Toulouse There hi
been heavy and continuous rains owe
the whole of the mountain range, and
fall of snow at Luz, where it would d
rectly swell the head waters of the G.
rome. 1t is said that at least a col
tributOry cause is furnished by I'll
great destruction of timber In the di
trict during the last century. Tree
not only absorb water largely from IL
soil, but they also prevent the surfac
from being bak ed and hardened by I'll
sun, aud they check the rapidity All
abruptness with which rain wOnl
otherwise reach the ground. When
falls unimpeded upon dry and barre
hillsides, it viii run from them aImo
as freely as from the sloping roofs
houses and few hours will carry Ii
water of the mountain storm to swe
the volume of the nearest river. 1t
ca Y to be wise after the event but
district so situated there is great roo
for measures of prevention. and III
riparian authorities, whoever they ma
be, should be entrusted with Dowel
commensurate to the magnitude of I'll
recurring evils, which, by wise precs1
tons, they might do much to mitipaI
or avert. Even the thy floods whic
sometimes occur IN this country al
often greatly aggravated by local ne
Iect, by some sitting mp of the ehaun
OF a stream, or by some ill place
bridge, which forms an obstacle to III
passage of an unusual BODY of waite
In rivers IN which are liable TO I
swollen by mountain torrents the char
III