The Osceola times., 1879-11-15
The City OF Floods

During the storm at St. Petersburg
last week, the river Neva is reported 10
have reached the greatest height ever
known. If this Is true, the catastrophe
ought to have been fearful. 1t must be
kept III mind that constant menace to
the city is the Gulf of Finland and the
river Neva st. Petersburg is only fif-
teen feet above the water level. The
gull of Finland acts like a tunnel. A
strong westerly wind forces the water
from the gulf into the river, and sub
merges the lower part of the inunda-
tions. What fevcrs are III other places
water is to the people of Russia's capital.
The alarms given at the onset of flood
are Numbered from artillery. AT inter
walls of an hour the roar Of u cannon
informs the public that the lowest por-
tions of the islands are under water, and
signal flags are hung out from the stee-
pies. As the water rises the guns are
fired oftener, until, when the streets are
wet by the incoming waves, then reports
come every fifteen minutes. When the
population begins to drown then the
brazen throated guns call for aid every
minute. This is one enemy to the Sc
curity Of the place. Another is the dis
charge of water and ice from Lake La
doga through the Neva. Let the Cult
of Finland once be swept by 4 strong
west wind, 80 that the ice and water
are turned back upon the city, and there
will be horror unparalleled in the
world-a great metropolis swept clean
from the earth. The catastrophe re-
ferred to in the dispatches probably
arose from the pressure of the westerly
winds upon the waters of the gulf.
When Peter the Great built st. Peters
burg upon marsh, he was warned of
danger from the Neva, and assured that
its waters would flood, and perhaps de-
stroy, this town of his on the marshes of
lngria. He laughed at the idea. 1t is
told Of him in this connection that see
ing tree with peculiar mark upon its
trunk he inquired the cause of its pres
ence, and when told that it marked the
height of the flood in 1850, called his
informant liar, and what he said an
impossibility, and then with his own
hands cut down the tree.
But Peter was scarcely IN his grave
when the tragedies of these floods COM
menced. There were terrible disasters
in l72S, 1929, 1875, l7i0 and l742. In
l777, just before the birth of the En-
peror Alexander, the Neva rose ten feet
above its ordinary level, drowning
Princess Tarakatf daughter Of the En-
press Elizabeth, and Count Alexis Ra-
zournoilski, who, for ten years, had been
a prisoner in the fortress, having been
been taken from Rome by Alexis Oro-
lof.
The most fearful inundation of all
occurred Nov. II, 1924. The wind was
from the west and southwest. The wa
tiers of the Neva were forced back upon
the city. Nightfall found the streets
submerged. Travel was impossible. Ve-
| hicles were carried awav. Cellars were
filed. The irresistible volume of water
bursted the sewers and spurted into the
/ air. Wooden houses were lifted from
their foundations and floated away with
/ the people in them. Horses were drown
| ed in their harness. Men climbed into
the trees and clustered like birds in the
| branches. The horrors Of n second del.
uge seemed about 10 overtake the low
| living metropolis. The men-of-war were
IN danger cf breaking from their moor
ings and smashing the houses with theii
hulks. The greedy waves Tapped the
foundations of granite palaces, and theil
downfall was only a question of few
hours Luckily calm stayed the raw
ages Of the waters, and permitted the
Neva to flow once again TO the sea. The
damage inflicted was incalculable. A
deadly epidemic followed and ragged fol
weeks. Undermined houses topplec
and fell. and others could not be occu
pied for months. This outbreak cos
thousands of lives and destroyed prop