The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-09-16
FLOODS In SPAIN
Some Two Thousand People are
Drowned.
GREAT SCARCITY OF FOOD EXISTS
Matters in MexicO-Huntiug for the Circulat-
orS Of Rumors of Revolutionary Feeling
"A Cablegram From Admiral Brown.

MADRID, Sept. 1.-THE floods which
caused so much damage and which are
already known to have resulted in the loss
of thousands of lives, have been general in
the south of Spain. The damage done is
terrible in Its extent In the province of
Toledo the rush of water from the Consue-
gra river was so sudden and unexpected
that hundreds of people were drowned III
their beds. Four hundred bodies have
already been recovered and at least one
hundred corpses can be seen floating in the
swollen river. A national relief fund has
been opened and all the newspapers an
nounce they are ready to receive donations.
The grape and grain crops are destroyed
throughout the flooded sections of the
country.
The overlooking of the Consuegra threat
ems to cause further damage. Two thirds
OF the houses practically destroyed are still
standing, but their foundations are Slapped
and they threaten to fall any moment.
Families saved from drowning are in 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 death list at z, 900.
| Large numbers Of corpses still rest where
they were found. Unless soon inferred an
epidemic of fever IS feared So far as pos
J sible the bodies of the drowned are being
gathered from streams, mud banks and
ruins. and being buried in trenches. Many
of the bodies found are entirely nude show
ing they must have been washed
from their beds. Unhappily the
worst is not yet known, and some
months of terrible privations and
extreme suffering are before the utterly
impoverished survivors. The crops are
gone, cattle swept away, houses ruined and
all that would enable them to earn their
nicho cd 81
OF water which have rolled over towns
and villages, fields and farms. The ex-
IRENE distress, the positively ravenous
feeling OF starvation prevailing in many
sections of the tiood-devastated 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
and pillaging buildings where they eX-
pected to find food. Troops have been in
structed to take the most severe measures
to protect property. Two thousand kilo!
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 fam
lshlng Inhabitants, male and female, the
majority half naked or clad in rags, most O
them on their knees, with hands uplifte(
praying for succor. When all the brea(
was gone there still remained many mouth!
untitled, many sufferers who had not beef
able to obtain even the smallest portion o
this temporary relief. at Almeria, tn
capital of the province of tina
name, the number of dead is still
unknown, but is admitted over fiv
hundred houses have been destroyed, an
that large number of people have per
ished. The villages of Puerto, Laplch
and Villa Franco, in the province ofCiu
dad Real, have been severely ravaged b.
, the floods.
The Queen has subscribed 900 to tn
relief fund and the Bank of Spain ha
added $4,000. at Almeria the flood ha
, stopped operations at the electric light an
/ gas works and the city is in total darkness
The river Andaray has overfowed it
> banks, converting the valley into vas
{ lake. 1t is estimated that over five thor
sand head of horses and cattle are drowned
The police have succeeded in suppressin
, p1llage. Food is rapidly arriving for tn
} sufferers. Fresh corpses are being dis
covered all the time. The bodies of sixt
persons have been sound in a public ha
/ where they had been overtaked by tn
flood in the midst of a wedding feast.
The terrible storm which set in nea
-, Valencia Tuesday morning destroyed th
3 rice crop. The rivers Turia and Jucar ar
/ rising rapidly and threaten further disas
ter. The government has set apart 500,
z 600 for relief measures and has asked tn
Y Bank OF Spain to grant credits to the GOV
. errors Of the suffering provinces.