The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1910-02-05

Parts.-lt Is officially stated tina
the river Seine Is stationary and tha
its tributaries are falling.
The improvement, from appear
ances. will not be merely temporary
The water water has begun to fall IL
all Of the affluents of the Seine above
Paris, but the passage through the
city Is clogged by bridges and al
| immense accumulation Of drift anG
the seething waters hourly arr
spreading over new acres. Choke6
under ground rivers and sewers are
bursting their confines and playing
| havoc with the streets, swampine
more cellars and threatening more
foundations Of buildings.
A story of the details Of the great
est flood that has swept Paris In
| years would simply be repetition
OF what has gone before. The city
! presents weird spectacle, the SOL
| diers, sailors, hremen and police has
tily constructing temporary walls by
the light Of camp fires and torches
In an endeavor to keep out the in
vading floods. while pickets patrol
those sections of the city which are
plunged in darkness by the bursting
Of the gas mains and the stoppage
of the electric lighting plants.
The situation in the Place de
L'Opera is grave. The entire terri
tory has been roped off as being
unsafe. 1t is stated also that the
new Equitable Life Insurance Socie-
ty building is in danger Of collapse.
Charitable organizations are coop
Grating with the authorities in throw
Ing open their buildings and succor-
ing refugees. Several converts and
number Of public, buildings have
been equipped with military cots and
bedding and transformed into hos
pitals. The Red Cross is performing
splendid service in distributing food
and clothing.
Nevertheless, numerous pitiful in
stances are cited of women and chill
dren, who had refused to leave their
homes in the submerged districts,
shrieking from their windows for
bread.
It is difficult to, present mental
picture of the geographical limits OF
the submerged area Of Paris, but
roughly speaking, 1t is estimated that
the surface inundated from the Seine
which must not be confounded with |
the overflow in the back streets from |
.sswars and subtarranean riE-
Drs, covers about nine square miles,,
Or ono quarter Of the city.
The number OF the refugees arriv- |
ing here is enormous, Charenton !
alone sending in $4,000 who had
come there from Calais and other af-
.licted points.
Practically all of the flooded sub
urban towns above and below Paris
Ire without light and several of them
without water. Their inhabitants
are hastily leaving.
Messages Of sympathy and offers
It assistance are pouring upon the
government from individuals and So
'ieties all over the world.
The French government is deeply
ouched by the expressions Of sym
,athy that have been received from
Ibroad. King Victor Emmanuel and
he Italian cabinet have sent mes
ages Of coincidence and Pope Plus
las transmitted $4,000 to Mgr.
the archbishop Of Paris, for
se among the sufferers in his arch
iocese. Emperor Nicholas and the
ling Of Belgium also have sent ST.
90 each for the poor of Paris. In J
ddition, public subscriptions have
cen opened in Belgium for the flood \
ufferers.
New districts are being flooded
onstantly and the people are evac-
ating blocks of buildings Several
ospitals where sick and numbers OF
sfugees were taken are In a dread
Il plight, due to water having reach I
! their cellars and quenching the
lrnace fires. Four hundred pa !
ents were hurriedly removed in am
llances from the hospital de la Sal e
'triere to the hospital Boucicault.
heir rescue was dramatic. The hos
tai already was isolated and q new Z
Ish Of water threatened to level it.
The floods III the French rivers are
nong the most serious events of the
rt recorded in many years past. =
'ance, however, has flood history y
At Is appalling. y
To 60 back to further than 1910 N
result Of excessive rains, the Il
yer saone overflowed its banks and W
ured its waters into the Rhone, and u
. two covered vast area Of coun- "
Z, inundating Lyons, Avignon and Je
her cities and creating great loss of
9 and property.
In 1876 there was a destructive
cd in large extent Of France, the lii
yer Loire rising twenty feet in one 81
,ht, and causing immense damage, 81
imated at s20,Oo0,0oo. In 1856 a
're was another great flood in the hs
lth Of France. ce
This time, however, the damage yo
ought is greater than ever before ch
ANK PROPERTY ATTACHED. |