Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-26
FACTORIES FORCED TO CLOSE
Bursting Sewers and Caving Streeti
Threaten Buildings.
IS GROWING WORSE
Low Temperature is Accompanied by
Rain and Sleet.
PUMPING STATIONS IN DANGER
Rise of Few Inches VIII Cut OFF
supply of Drinking water
Two Hundred square
"A. Miles Flooded.

"a. Niles Flooded.
| PARIS, Jan. 25-Fifty thousand soldiers,
comprising the garrison OF Paris, were
| placed at the disposition OF the municipal
authorities this morning TO fight the flood
whose ravages are spreading ruin and con-
sternation throughout the city.
| At o'clock this morning the water at
Pont Royal had touched twenty-slx feet
above low tide and was rising at the rate
of nearly half an inch an hour with the
prospect Of the rise continuing until mid
night.
The damage already done is incalculable.
The industrial life of the city is rapidly
becoming paralyzed. Only two sections Of
the subway are in operation while three
foufths Of the surface lines are tied up
Factories are shutting down because OF
lack of power due to the electric plants
having been flooded. Half Of the tele-
! phones in tho city are out OF commission
and telegraph and railroad communication
is demorallSed
The disaster is due chiefly TO the fact
that the whole marvellous underground
architecture of the city. which is honey
combed with labyr1nths, is filling up with
water, causing the sewers TO burst and the
streets to cave in and threatening the
foundations of buildings.
The scene on the river front Is majestic,
but appalling. The stream has broken its
barriers at several points and is pouring it's
yellow torrents into the surrounding
streets, converting them into veritable
lakes. At any minute II may be neces-
sary to blow up the Alma bridge where the
water is but few inches from the key
stone OF the arch dam there might
turn the course of the Seine In such a way
as to flood several of the most fashionable
sections OF the city.
Water Causes Explosion.
A tremendous explosion which awakened
the stricken city at o'clock led to the
report that the Alma bridge had been
blown UP, but the explosion proved to have
occurred In a chemical factory at Ivry-
sur-selne, eight miles above, Itiis pre-
sumed that the water suspounding the fac
tory came in contact with chemicals caus-
ing the explosion.
During the night the subway stations
at the Orleans terminus ard at DUAL De-
Orsay were flooded and closed and the
sinking of the Rue De Poltlers let tho
water through foot and n half deep into
the Rue De Lille and the Rue De L'Uni-
versite stfeets in which live many of the
old aristocracy. The Vaugirard district,
near the Boucicault hospital also Is mum
dated
The weather grows worse rather than bet
, ter, and at noon Paris was the center OF
, an area of low pressure and bitter cold
and rain and seet were falling through
out the flooded regions, adding to the suf-
fering of the poor and homeless ones. The
price of bread and other food has in
creased owing to the fact that communica-
ton with the provinces Is crippled. No
trains from the south are coming beyond
Choisy- y-Le-Roi.
The depleted supply Of drinking water
has caused the greatest alarm. With the
rise of the flood but a few inches higher
the pumping stations still in operation,
must stop. and Paris, in the midst Of a
miniature ocean. viii be without water fit
to drink
200 square Miles Flooded.
The situation at between twenty and
, thirty suburban towns above this city is
worse than In the capital itself. At Charen-
, ton, where the swollen river Marne enters
the Seine an area Of 200 square miles has
, been flooded, The submerged district in
, cudes Alfortville and Ivry-Sur- Seine. with
a total population OF $1,000 At this point
, the soldiers and fIremen are doing heroic
work in rescuing families in boats and
pontoons At Alfortville the cemetery has
been washed out and caskets lifted from
a FA~N~Sf
stream.
From Auth to ST. Germain the lower por-
tions of all the riverside towns are deep
beneath the waters and soldiers are forcing
| the residents to evacuate their homes The
domestic water supply at several towns has
! been cut off.
The animals of the geological gardens.
which were in danger OF drowning, have
been removed to higher grounds
. scale. Appeals for funds issued by the Red
: Cross and other societies are meeting with
E generous responses Edmond Rostand has
: offered to give the receipts, which are ex-
!. pected 70 be enormous, from the first
nights presentation Of his play "Chanti-
9 cleer."
4 Danger OF Epidemic.
Physicians fear an epidemic when the
flood subsidies, as the oyerfowing sewers
are likely to eontaminate the drinking
water, and rats, driven out Of their under
ground homes, are invading residences.
The report that the Bitfel tower is dam
aged is wrong. III is said the tower was
built with a water base and each support
supplied with hydraulic lifting apparatus,
which works automatically.
Before noon the police compelled the
evacuation OF the Hotel Palais d'Orsay
( near the Qua dorsay and the surrounding
5 houses. The palace Of the Legion OF Honor
e is menaced and an accumulation OF drift
wood above the Isle OF ST. Louis threat
0 ems TO sweep away the barrier Of piles and
{ the Font des Arts.
News from the provinces show there is a
general Improvement IN tho flood situation
I this afternoon except in the east and at
the atfluents OF the Seine and Meuse
r TeIesraph Is Cut orr
acknowledgements IN the south Of
France is rapidly going TO pieces The
J. archway Of the submerged tunnel between
the Quai DOrsay and the Austerlitz sta.
! tons threatens 10 fall. A three-story build
ing on the DUAL De La Rapee collapsed this
e afternoon.