Huntsville gazette., 1891-09-19
FLOODS IN SPAIN.
Details Of Destruction Done by
Sweeping Waters.
THOUSANDS SUBMERGED.
Hundreds of People Drowned
in Their Beds.
THE ESCAPED ARE IN DISTRESS

ern spain-They Are Attended with
| "feat Suffering, Loss of Life, sorrow,
| Mourning, Want and Utter Privation.
| Corpses Are Floating in the Raging
Rivers-Upright Hands Pray for Succor
in Time of UnequaIIed Need-Char-
| liable People Work in Most Heart
rending mergency-Harrowing Scenes
| Are Destroyed Throughout the Section.
Impossible to Estimate the Extent OF
the Awful Disaster.
MADRID, Sept. IS. The floods which
have caused so much damage, and
which are already known to have re-
| suited in the loss of thousands of lives,
have been general in the south of Spain.
The
Damage Done Is Simply Terrible
IN its extent. Several trains have been
| derailed and railroad tracks and bridges
everywhere are washed away. In the
province of Toledo the rush of water
from the Conseugra river was SO sud
| den and unexpected that hundreds Of
people were drowned in their beds. The
aspect of the town is positively fright
full. -Four hundred bodies have been
| recovered, and almost
Hundred Corpses Can BE Seen
floating i'll the swollen rivers. A ma
tional relief fund has been started, and
all the newspapers announce that they
are ready to receive donations. The
wine and grain crops have been destroy
ed throughout the flooded sections of
the country.
The overlooking of the Consuegra
threatens to cause further damage.
Two-thirds of the houses practically
destroyed are still standing, but their
foundations are Slapped and they threat
en- to fall at any moment. The families
saved from drowning are camped near
the dwellings formerly occupied by
them, and are ii the greatest
Distress from Want of Food.
An estimate classed as a moderate one,
and which is within rather than over
the actual number, places the total of
the death list at 1900. Large numbers
Of corpSes still rest where they were
found. Unless they are soon inferred
an epidemic of fever is feared. The
municipal and government authorities
are exerting themselves to the utmost
in order to relieve the extreme distress
existing
The Utmost Praise Is Due
to the troops, physicians and clergy and
Sisters of Charity who in this emergen-
cy have shown themselves to be capable
Of almost superhuman exertions on be-
half of the sufferers from this most dis
astrous food. All seem actuated by
the desire to do everything possible for
both the living and the dead. Unhap-
PLY. the worst is not yet known, and
months Of terrible privations and ex-
treme suffering are before the utterly
impoverished survivors. The crops are
gone, the cattle swept away, houses
and household furniture ruined and all
them to earn their bread has vanished
beneath
The Torrents of Water,
which have rolled over towns and vii
lagos, fields and farms. The troops
have been instructed to take the most
severe measures to protect the property
from thieves. Two thousand kilos of
army bread have already arrived in the
flooded districts and the commissariat
corps of all The military divisions are
working night and day to supply provi-
sions to the starving people.
When the. government delegate in
charge of
The First Consignment of Bread
from the army bakeries arrived in the
flooded country he witnessed scene
which would have impaired to heart
of stone a feeling of sympathy. On all
sides he was beset by the furnishing
inhabitants, young and old, male and
female. the majority half naked or clad
ian rags. most of them on their knees,
with hands uplifted praying for succor.
| The feverish clamor of these poor peo-
pie made the.work of distribution slow
| and painful, and when
All the Bread Was Gone
there still remained many mouths I'M
| filled, many sufferers who had not been
able to obtain even the smallest portion
of this temporary relief.
At Almeria, capital of the province
| of that name. the number of the dead,
as in many other places, is still I'M
| known, but it is admitted that over 500
Houses Have Been Destroyed,
and that a large number of people have
J persisted.
OF course it is impossible at present
to get full details of the flood disaster,
but in addition to the places already re-
| ferred to, at Andares the stream has
overhowed and is running the grape
crop. The villages of Puerto, Lapiche
| and Villa France i'll the province OF
Cuidad, have beer. severely ravaged by
| the floods. 1t is estimated that 5000
head of horses ind stock have been
| drowned.