Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-28
PLIGHT Of PARIS
IS WORSE HOURLY
Flood, Still Rising, Spreads
Menace to Very Core of
Beautiful City.
SUBWAYS AND. CELLARS
FILLED TO STREET LEVEL
Water Mains Exploded and Building
Foundations Undermined.
STREET TRAFFIC SUSPENDED
Splendid Art Treasures and Public
Works Threatened With Destruc-
tion-Misery Extensive-Food
Prices Sky High.
Water Mains Exploded and Building
Foundations Undermined.
STREET TRAFFIC SUSPENDED

PARIS, January 2s.-The boiling waters
Of the Seine are still rising today at the
rate of an inch and a quarter an hour.
There is a steady downpour of rain.
The temperature is falling.
Everywhere the situation is appreciably
worse than yesterday.
The Seine lacks but few inches of at
tanning the greatest flood maximum on
record. This was in 1916, and when the
country was without the modern barriers
which are designed to protect Paris and
nearby points in such emergencies.
An unfortunate shift of the wind from
north to southwest. accompanied by q
falling barometer and heavy rain, added
new thrill Of horror to the situation
this forenoon.
Cherries Prospect Presented.
When the day broke over Paris and
the submerged prdkinces surrounding the
prospect was cheerless. A heavy rain
had set in and a brisk breeze out Of the
north served to drive the flood to points
which heretofore had escaped its in
vasion.
During the night there was little of
encouragement. With the early hours of
today came a decided change for the
worse.
Today's papers are filled with pages of
pitiful and terrifying details.
War would hardly play such havoc
The ''city of light" has BECOME a city OF
slime filled with muddy waters.
Business is almost at q standstill. Ho-
tells are crowded with persons who have
fed from inundated homes
The prices of necessarfes are advanc-
ing by leaps and bounds as the paralysis
of transportation facilities entering the
city extends.
Sympathy and Help Given.
In some measure the suffering Of the
homeless ones was alleviated. Messages
Of sympathy from the outside, many of
them accompanied with substantial
financial contributions, was a feature OF
the situation that afford cause for
thanksgiving.
Disaster followed disaster during the
day. gaping chasm opened in the
lower Champs Elysee, ingulfing a cart
and two men. One of the men was res
cued. The other, with the horse. was
swept away to his death.
While corporal and two soldiers in
rowboat were trying to deliver the orders
of their commander, the boat was swept
into the Seine, and the corporal fell over
board. The two soldiers sprang into the
seething waters to save their comrade.
After an exciting effort the corporal
and one soldier were rescued with ropes
thrown by sailors on shore. The other
soldier was drowned. i.
Devastation Reaches City's Core.
The devastation has now penetrated the
very heart Of Paris, the gorging rivers
and sewers underneath literally blowing
up the streets. while the area Of the sur
face overfiowed by the waters of the
Seine had been doubled today.
Twelve of the twenty-five bridges over
the river have been closed. The quays
on either side. from one end of the
city to the other. are either inundated or
have been roped OF as unsafe.
The Esplanade des Invalides is a sheet
Of water. The turgtd flood had crept
back almost to the Jardin du Luxem-
bourg on it's left bank and invaded the
and guarded by soldiers, and the lower
Champs Elysees on the right bank.
The Palais de Glace and other pleasure
resorts and restaurants are surrounded.
Even the Place oe rOpera, at the core
of the city, is threatening to sink to the
subway beneath.
Cellars Full to Street Level.
Cellars throughout the district from
that point to the st. Lazare station, COM
prisins the Faubourg Montmartre and the
Rue Berger and the richer sections in
the Rue Provence. the Rue Drouot and
the Rue Chateaudon. are filled to the
street level with water from the over
flowed subterranean river.
From the Rue de la Grange-Bateliere
only one street. the Rue de la Roauete,
rondissement, necessitating a three-mile
detour to reach the eleventh from the
ninth reimbursement.
The palace Of the Legion of Honor has
been evacuated. The situation in the
neighborhood of the French Institute has
become desperate.
At the Place Pereiere the main drain
exploded. flooding the subway Work.
men inside narrowly escaped with their
lives Another main broke, emptying its
contents into the basement of the prin-
cipal market and destroying the entire
stock of provisions.
The Place du Palais-B Bourbon, where
the deputies are now sitting, is nearly
isolated.
Water Gushes Out Of Subway.
Toward noon the water gushed out Of
the Tuilleries entrance to the Metropoli-
tan subway. flooding the square in front
of the Comedie Franchise. Attempt to
Keep the water down In the section Of
the subway at this place was made by
using pumps through holes bored at dis
tant points, but with little effect.
The morning found great force Of
masons still at work In the erection of a
wall which, it was hoped. would divert
the flood from the historic Hotel Lam
bert and the famous Hotel Lauzun, ad.
joining. Both Of these houses were built
In the seventeenth century. the Hotel
L.auzun having been purchased by the