New-York tribune., 1891-09-17
THE DISASTER At CONSUEGRA'
sro1IprTY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE SPANISH
TOWN WHILE THE RIVER WAS RISING.
rr,p,p,r SCENES AT THE HEIGHT OF THE
FLooD-rHE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY
.crn AT 40 500 900.


FLooD-THE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY
PLACED AT s2.6ooooo.
Madrid, Sept 16-A gcndaTnle az CohsuesrA' VIM
was an eyewitness OF the disaster, says Inc s'or
was accompanied by terrific thunder ana nsn~iine
While 1 was standing near the Town han 1 was
startled by hearing the Mayor shouting from tne oa
o ~ bs rosidence 10 the guards to to the river
as the waters were flooding the houses hurried WIFI
several comrades to the lower part OF the town. we
found the water already in many places necAhlsn l
with much difficulty we saved thirty persons Inc
Mayor presently arrived the scene, ana appeared 70
all possessing carts to assist 10 ti"pSpo '"s N0F-
10 the upper part Of the town. -
q ONLY three persons responded, although 200 pos
sessed oonveyances The same difficulty was
met in obtaining the ropes, ladders' ploA
axes etc. necessary for rescuing people IN danger
The callous Indifference Of those In safety cohiouu
TO a great extent to the enormous fatahV' Even
those whose houses were flooded seemed incapable OF
realizing their danger In vain we begged and prayed
tbou "a abandon thoir doomed dwellings. The storm
having abated, they believed all danger past, ana
soldls refused to bulge Torrents speedily began TO
r,,n from the mountain gorges in all directions into
the valley.
Thus the day passed, and at night many people,
in spt of warnings went to sleep in their threatened
dwellings. Soon the storm broke out again with re-
doubled violence. The river rose by leaps and bounds
and carried everything before It, 1t awful TO see
the now thoroughly terrified people climbing to the
roofs of their houses and shrekng vainly for hep'
The houses collapsed after another, and were
swallowed up in the seething torrent Daybreak Saw
hundreds of men and beasts struggling In the water,
cInging In dspair to wreckage, and whrled along so
rapdly that they were in o moment lost to sight,
The correspondents Of the Spanish and foreign news
papers who have been able to reach Consuegra describe
II as "a city of the dead" 1t is wrapped In deadV
silence which in tsef is terrible. Consuegra is thirty
five miles southeast Of Toledo and before the HOOD hau
q population Of about 1000 1t also had number OF
factories where woolens manufactured ana
near it were the ruins of ancient castle and many
Roman antiquities.
The survivors of the foods as rule stand in groups
about the ruins Of their former homes or about the
places where they were accustomed to earn thcr oay
bread and means and cries of anguish arise from inc
men and bitter waiing from the women and children
they witness the departure, in the dead CARTS Oh Vc
loved ones or the way to the public buryng GROUNDS.
The streets everywhere are torn up, washed OUT ana
filed with wreckage principally furniture the remains
Of dwellings and domestic goods of all descriptions
Human remains are sometimes seen protrudnG rom
heaps of mud covered wreckaGe. The dcpUh Oh Uilo
flood at Consuega be estimated from the TACT ta
the water sixteen feet in the Church OF ST. Joh
the Baptist.
An estimate made Of the damage to property in
and about Consuegra places the loss at So 100000 not
including the money and valuables buried everywhere
in the ruins.
The survivors of the disaster able to give only
vague and confused accounts Of the rise and onward
sweep of the water which wrought such
havoc They say, however, that. though the
river was noticed to be rising fapdy'
no serious apprehension felt until the waters
seemed to make a sudden rush forward. Then came
wild race for life, the people flying in all directions
Many climbed upon the roofs Of their houses, but the
buildings gave way beneath them as the swollen waters
swept through the town, consgnlng hundreds to death
in the wreckage-laden stream. Many people were 10
he seen struggling in the water cngng 10 any LhnS
they could lay hold of that would sustain them above
water and so they struggled from place TO place. uhu
thev either reached refuge or sank exhausted Many
families were cOoped up in their rooms ana IN danger
of being drowned but of them managed 10 reacn
places of safety through the collapse OF their dwell
ings. a., H., ... oo =
gathered from the fact that the flood lifted from the
ground the entire framework of goodsized SUBURBAN
residence and carried IT, almost as II was taken up ior
eight miles. Twenty-sevcn dcad bodies nave Deen
foupd i'm one dwelling house. AS sanitary precau-
ton the majority of the dead have been buried without
time being given for identification. -, 4. .,
Further distressing particulars in regard 10 the
flooded provinces continue to be received at long IN,
tervals The latest information is from Jaen capital
of tbe provnce of The same name. The Governor oi
that province telegraph that the whole commune Of
Aubeda is submerged, that the damage done Is enor
nous and that there has been considerable loss OF e