, 1880-01-21
TIL AVIS
CHRLSTTANSTED ST. CROIX
Wednesday the 21st January 1880.
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DcIaIIen BaSSeUorr0 IN .SC. klCCS muSC nave
excited the establishment asmuch as the com
miseration of our readers. Floods in cOun-
tries where there are large rivers, as in Spain
or Hungary, Or even where there are con.
siderable r~ivulets, as in Jamaica, are easily
understood: but that a desolating food
should occur in a small island, not larger
than Santa Cruz, seems, on first hearing,
almost incredible. The matter becomes
clearer after the position and surroundings
OF Basseterre are understood. st. Kits
is one of that beautiful curved line of
volcanic islands which e~ncloses the CARR
bean Sea, stretching from Saba ON the
north to Grenada on the south. In area
and population it is about equal to Santa
Cruz; but in elevation above the sea much
exceeds this island. The extinct volcano,
Mt. Misery, is 300 feet high, and the whole
central strip of the island consists Of high
hills descending on both sides to the sea and
%margined by fertile plains. Basseterre faces
the south, and is built on a plain stretching
along the shore of a gently curved bay.
The ground rises slightly as the shore is
left, and farther back ascends rapidly into
lofty hills which surround the town on
three sides. Consequently the drainage of
the hills converges on the town On all
sides. The principal stream is called the
"FOuntain river" and, judging from a
Small sketchmap at hand, it runs for three
miles through a valley coming down from
among the hills. BasSeterre seems there
fore to be built in an unfavOurable position
in this regard, though we are not aware
that it has ever before suffered from floods.
Ne accounts of the recent calamity which
have reached us were all written on the
following day, and this of course explains
their contradictory character. When one
writer says that 40 bodies have been
recovered and another says so, we must
remember that the search was still going
on, conducted by different parties, and
most likely in separate localities. The
estimates of e18,00O and ESQ., 600 as the
amount of loss sustained are of course
little better than guesses. We must await
the next mail for accurate details; but III
the mean time there are some points which
come out quite clearly from the accounts.
The rain, which, as we learn from a private
source, was falling ON Sunday afternoon,
began, between IL and II o'clock at night
to fall in alarming quantity, and a steady
downpour continued till 5 o'clock on Mon
day morning. Some of the inhabitants in
the best situated part of the town slept
undisturbed till the morning. Others
awOke to find a sheet of rushing water all
around them. Some, we are told, ran to
the Wesleyan chapel, a little above the
general level, for safety, but the water
rising within it they had again to run out
to higher ground. The rain falling on the
surrounding hills and valleys had become
too abundant for the small watercourses
conveying it to the sea, and the site Of the
town was suddenly converted into the
mouth of a rushing river. For many,
whose houses were situated at low levels,
there was no escape. Either IN their
houses or while attempting to reach a place
OF safety they were washed out to sea.
The desolation of the town is briefly
described i'll Mr.. Zippeps letter which we
reprint this morning from the "St. Thomas
Bulletin The retiring of the sea men
sion of the water but an apparent one,
caused, as we are told, by the .fuamg IN OF
the sea along the shore line with the eartn
brought down from the hills. 1t Is the
soil out of those terrible cuts In the hill
sides mentioned by Mr.. Zippel which now
forms a projecting belt OF land stretching
out as he says 600 or 700 feet beyond
the former line of shore, and buried In
which were found dead bodies and scatter
ed articles of property. Among the pub
lie losses the destruction of 1.-The water
works is not the least. They were con-
structed under the guidance OF Mr..
Eldridge, lnOw President OF Dominica, at
a cost of about $3.50, 600, and, although tits
not likely that the whole is destroyed,
there is no doubt that q great deal will re-
quire reconstruction. st. Kits is a -four
fishing little island, and will In all likelihood
recover from the effects of this calamity as