The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1910-01-29
SK|IFFS PLYING
IN The STREETS
BoulevardS Of Paris Sub
merged by Flood.
LARGE AREA UNDER WATER

Devastation Has Penetrated to the
Very Heart of the French Capital and
Twelve of Its Twenty-Five Bridges
Have Been Declared Unsafe-Busi-
ness Is at standstiII and Prices of
Necessities Are Advancing Rapidly.
Paris, Jan. 29.-The boiling waters
of the Seine were still rising at noon
at the rate of an inch and a quarter an
hour. There is steady downpour of
rain. The temperature is falling.
Everywhere the situation is apprecia.
bly, worse.
At the Place Pereire the main sewer
exploded, flooding the subway, and the
workmen inside narrowly escaped with
their lives. Another main broke, emp
tying it's contents into the basement
of the principal market and destroying
the entire reserve stock of provisions.
The Place du Palais Bourbon, where
the deputies are now sitting, is nearly
isolated. The palace of the Legion of
Honor has been evacuated. The situa-
ton in the neighborhood of the French
institute has become desperate
The papers are filled with pages of
pitiful and terrifying details. War
would hardly play such havoc. The
"City of Light" has become city of
slime, filled with muddy waters. Bust
ness is almost at standstill and the
hotels are crowded with persons who
have fled from inundated homes. The
prices of necessaries are advancing by
leaps and bounds, as the paralysis of
transportation facilities entering the
city extends. The Northern railroad
alone of the vast network OF railways
still operates directly into the city,
but the operation of this line is threat
ened by the deplorable situation at the
St. Lazare station, where the tracks
are submerged and the immense build.
ing is in danger of falling as a result
of broken water mains beneath the
foundations. s-~ ..
Streets Filled With Water.
The Esplande des 1nvalides is a
sheet of water. The turgid flood crept
back almost to the Jardin du Luxem-
bourg on the left bank and invaded
the Place de la Concorde, which was
closed and guarded by soldiers, and
the lower Champs Elysee on the right
bank. The Palais de Glace and Other
pleasure resorts and restaurants are
surrounded, even the Place de L'Opera
at the core of the city threatening to
sink to the subway beneath. Cellars
throughout the district from that point
to the st. Lazare station, comprising
the Faubourg Montmartre and the Rue
Berger and the richer sections in the
Rue de Provence, the Rue Drouot and
the Rue Chateaudon, are filled to the
street level with water from the over
flooded subterranean river.
Skiffs piled in the yard of President
Fallieres palace in the Champs Elysee.
Small boats also sailed around the
theaters and the restaurants in the
lower Champs Elysee. The surface of
the, water in this section is on a level
with the crest of the flood
All Easements in this quarter are
filed and water is on the first floors
of many of the costly residences.
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 surface overflow by the waters
of the Seine has been doubled. Twelve
Of the twenty-five bridges over the
river have been closed and the quays
on either side from one end of the city
to the other ere either inundated or
have been rOned off as unsafe