The herald., 1895-04-29
Au[D ant uIINnDrD FIII[D'
UvLK UNI IIUNDnLU RILLLU
A Great Wall of Water Causes
Many Fatalities
THE BREAKING OF A DYKE
Terrible Disaster in an Epinal District
of the Vosges
Great Distress Follows the Catastroph ga
Wide Region Made Desoiate by the
FIood-Bodies Recovered

III ~ n -, ioiioCs n pm iist >.
the fatalities by the breaking yesterday
of the great Bouzeek dyke in the Epina |
district of the Vosges increases every
hour. One hundred and fifty deaths have
already been reported, but only fifty bod
les have been recovered. 1t is believed
the death list will be greatly in excess of
the figures above given when all the dis
tricts are heard from. 1t is supposed
many of the dead were swept into iso-
lated places where it will be Il long time
before the bodies can be found.
The whole region over which thousands
OF tons of water swept in resstless flood
is strewn with every sort OF wreckage and
the whole country presents most desc =
late appearance. In many places the
early crops were swept clean out of the
ground and the losses thus incurred will
be very great. Six brigades of gepdaTmes
have arrived and they have been detailed
to act as guards. Every attempt is being
made to reorganize the district but this
is rendered difficult by the Eaters. The
Aviere, a small stream, is now in some
places mile and a half wide. The rail
way in the vicinity of Darniulles station
was torn up, railroad ties swept away and
the entertainments destroyed. Nearly
every bridge on the line of the flood was
that they will have to be rebuilt.
The construction of the dyke was COM
menced in 1879 and finished in 1884. In
1889 it was greatly strengthened. 1t was
of heavy masonry $50 yards long, to feet
high and 66 feet thick at the base. The
masonry was carried into the ground to
depth of 30 feet below the level of the
alley into which the reservoir discharged
it's water. 1t was built against vertical
face of solid rock, having maximum
height of IS feet. The base rested in
sandstone bottom of natural formation.
The massive construction of the dam
was considered to be guarantee that it
would hold back any weight OF water that
could be brought against it. Until the
strengthening of the work in 1889 it was
not subjected to a full pressure of the
water which 1T was built to hold.
J The distress among the jewellers OF the
valley is very great and in many cases
they appear to be mentally benumbed
by the calamity that has fallen.on them.
The government is fully awake to the
disaster and is doing everything possible
to relieve their sufferings. The ministers
of public works and interior are now on
their way here to assume charge of the
relief WORK. Three thousand francs have
already been received fol- relief purposes
and the ministers will bring 80. 600 more
from the funds of their departments and
1000 contributed by President Faure.
Nine. Hene has sent 80, 900 francs which
will be applied to relieving the sufferers.
The project of the department. has visited
all the districts affected by the disaster.
He has organized the employees of the
public roads and aided by the military
will as soon as possible restore commu-
nicaton. These employees and the sol
diers will also search for the dead and
they may find. All the municipal autho-
rites are working ceaselessly in distrib-
utihg relief and seeking to bring order
out of the chaos prevailing.
Over $4,000 persons from the nearby
towns and the surrounding country Wis
tied the scene of the disaster today At
D. m. the burial of fifteen of the vic
tins took place at Domevere, one of the
villages tn at suffered the most from the
inundation. Two thousand persons at
tended the funeral services, which were
held while the graves were being dug.
There were many heartrending scenes
while the bodies were consigned to the
earth.
LONDON. April 2S.-A special to the
Daily News from Paris says: The catas-
trophe occurred few minutes past
O'Clock in the morning. A stonecutter
who had Just commenced work lew feet
from the reservoir. saw the front of the
dam come down almost instantly. The
water poured down the valley, forming
bore about sixteen feet high The flood
reached Momsey at 05, having travelled
eighteen miles in less than an hour and
three-quarters. The project of Vosgas es-
timated the number OF victims at III.
The loss of life is probably underesti-
mated, as no news has has yet been re-
ceived from the parish of Frzen. through
which the torrent passed. The sound of
the bursting dam was heard several miles
away. The great rush of water lasted
about fifteen minutes, during which time
5000, 600 cubic meters Of water had passed
through the break.
At Bouzey itself only one house re-
mains standing on the hill above the
reservoir. which is now quite empty and
looks like an immense black hole in the
landscape. The remains of the broken
wall are lying about for distance OF 800
yards below the opening. A small pine
woods which stood beneath the reservoir
has completely disappeared with the eX
ception Of two trees, between the branches
of which a quantity of wreckage remains.
The great reservoir was an exceedingly
curious structure. 1t was composed OF
three arms which stretched out like fan
between wooded hills.