The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-02-01
TIDAL WAVE HITS ENGLAND
Whole East Coast From Scarborough
to Dover Affected.
SWEPT AWAY HOUSES AND PIERS

Damage Amounting to Many Thousands
Of Dollars is the Result of he alam'
ity-Panic Reigned in Hundreds OF
Towns-Men and Women Carried on
Crest OF Wave Hundreds of Yards.
London. Eng.-Surging shoreward IN
a monster tidal food, the sea in the
morning swept with terrible force over
watering places and other coast towns
for a stretch Of 260 miles along the
whole east coast from Scarborough to
Dover. The tidal wave struck Scar
borough first, carrying away 800 feet
of the magnificent pier there which
cost SIPS, 900. All the beautiful prom
enades on the front were smashed.
Buildings close to the water were url-
dermined and overthrown by the ire
mendous rush of millions of tons Of
water. The wave sent foaming tor
rents leaping through the streets of the
town, hurting men and women against
buildings. burying children beneath
mountainous breakers and brushing
horses off the roads like flies from a
window pane.
Next the giant wave flung itself on
Yarmouth, crushing in the doors and
windows of hundreds Of dwellings n
doubtless drowning some of the in
mates in their rooms. 1t was at first
impossible to estimate the loss Of life.
as wires were down in all directions
through the east seaboard. and the few
that remained worked badly. Only
brief bulletins came through, most of
them in such fragmentary form that
difficulty was experienced in dovetall-
ing them. It was known, though. that
the fine e%splanade and beach gardens
of Yarmouth were swept clean. Enor-
nous blocks of concrete were ripped
from the esplanade and tossed like
pebbles against structures that co.,
lapsed like ,eggshells under their fu-
rious blows.
Panic reigned in hundreds on hun
dreds of towns and villages along the
coast when telephone reports Of the
waves earlier destruction got to them
in turn. The inhabitants fled at a mo-
ment's notice. Whole villages were
depopulated in q quarter!lour. The
fugitives heard behind them the roar Of
the flood the frightful grinding Of
ruined seawalls. the cries i#sof those
whose escape seemed hopeless and the
crash Of falling buildings. Women
and men were carried on the crest of
the wave for hundreds of yards. yet
escaped with their lives. although in
jured severely. One boy was swept
over a. quarter-mile Of beach and
thrown violently against a sand dune.
His collarbone and left arm were bro
ken. Thousands of persons were
hurled high on the slopes of the head
lands. others saved themselves. though
half drowned, by clinging to the inland
fats.
Nothing the wav struck withstood
its fury. Iron pillars were wrenched
from their bases as if they were rotten
wood. Metal roofs~were torn off and
.steel-braced walls buckled as if their
foundations were swallowed by an
earthquake. Cars, carriages and carts
foated like chips until they were
smashed to %splinters by obstacles
against which they were damned.
Many dwellings were lifted off the
ground and carried out to sea. Scores
of bath houses were hattened on the
sands. Hundreds Of beach tents fut-
tered like distress signals on the great
pillows churning front.
The loss of life at sea must have
been great. All the small bay craft
were driven against the rocks and
wrecked before their crews had time to
Jump. 1t appears impossible that any
who were. in rowboats when the wav
caught them escaped. and even the
sailing vessels must have been visited
by heavy loss. Keen anxiety was felt
for the fate Of coastwise steamboats,
and for the fishing fleets off the Norfolk
shore. 1t was believed the total of
casualties on land and water would
run into large figures. Relief parties
have been sent from all the neighbor-
ing cities and towns.