Los Angeles herald., 1891-09-16
FLOODS In SPAIN.
The Deluge Terrible in Its
Extent.
At Least Two Thousand People
Drowned.
The Survivors in Great Distress for
Want of Food.
Hundreds of Putrefying Bodies Likely
to Breed Pestilence-rhe Govern
ment Taking Prompt Re-
lief Measures.
Associated Press Dispatches.

water from the Consuegra river was so
sudden and unexpected that hundreds
of people were drowned in their beds.
Four hundred bodies have already been
recovered, and at least 100 corpses can
be seen floating in the river. A ma
tional relief fund has been opened, and
all the newspapers announce that they
are ready to receive donations. The
grape and grain crops have been de-
stroyed throughout the flooded dis
tricts.
TWO THOUSAND VICTIMS.
The overhowing of the Consuegra
threatens to cause further damage.
Two.thirds OF the houses, practically de-
stroyed, are still standing, but the foun-
dations are sapped and they threaten to
fall at any moment. The families saved
from the drowning are in great distress
from want of food. An estimate classed
as moderate one and which is within,
rather than over the actual number,
places the total death list at two thou
sand. Large numbers of corpses still
rest where they were found. Unless
soon inferred an epidemic fever is feared.
So far as possible the bodies of the
drowned are being gathered from the
streams, mud banks and ruins and be-
ing buried in trenches. Many of the
bodies found are entirely nude, show
ing they must have been washed from
their beds.
THE WORST NOT YET KNOWN.
Unhappily the worst is not yet known,
and mepths of terrible privations and
extreme suffering are before the utterly
impoverished survivors. Crops are gomez
cattle swept away; houses ruined, ann
all that would enable them to earn their
bread has vanished beneath the torrents
of water which have rolled over the
towns and villages, fields and farms.
The extreme distress and positively
ravenous feeling of starvation prevailing
in many sections of the fiood-devasted
country has another and, if possible,
blacker side.
BANDS OF DESPERATE MEN,
determined to obtain bread at any cost
for their hunger-tortured families, have
been driven to making raids upon and
pillaging buildings where they expected
to find food. The troops have been in
structed to take the most severe meas
ures to protect property.
Two thousand kilos Of army bread
have arrived in the flooded districts.
When the government delegate in
charge OF the first consignment of bread
arrived, he was beset by the famishing
inhabitants, male and female, the
majority half naked or clad in rags,
most of them with hands uplifted,
praying for succor. When all the bread
was gone, there still remained
MANY MOUTHS UNFILLED,
many sufferers had not been able
to obtain even the smallest portion of
this temporary relief.
At Almeria, the capital of the prov
ince of that name, the number of dead
is still unknown, but it is admitted that
over 500 houses have been destroyed,
and that large number of people have
persisted.
The villages of Puerto, Lapiche and
Villa Franco, in the province OF Ciudad
Real, have been severely ravaged by the
floods.
THE QUEENS CHARITY.
The queen has subscribed $4,000 to
the relief fund, and the Bank of Spain
has added $4,000.
At Almeria the food has stopped op-
erations at the electric light and gas
works, and the city is in total darkness.
The River Andaray has overfowed it's
banks, converting the valley into vast
lake. 1t is estimated that over 5000
head of horses and cattle were drowned.
| The police have succeeded in sup
pressing pillage. Food is rapidly arriv-
| ing for the sufferers. Fresh corpses are
being discovered all the time. The
bodies of sixty persons have been found
in public hall, where they were over
taken by the food in the midst OF a
| wedding feast.
FURTHER DISASTER THREATENED.
A terrible storm, which set in near
Valencia Tuesday morning, destroyed
the rice crop. The rivers Turia and
Jucar are rising rapidly and threaten
| further disaster. The government has
set apart 100000 for relief measures
and has asked the Bank of Spain to
grant credits to the governors of the
| suffering DrOVincea