The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-24
All Flood Records Are K ceeded and Hundreds Are
 Homeless and Ruined
STILL GREATER RISE
 IN RIVER EXPECTED
Not Only In Paris But In Many Cities
 and Districts of France the Rivers Are OverfIowng With Severe i- Results.

Paris, January 2S.-The floods tonight exceeded all records and are fast assum- ing the proportions of a national disaster In the north. east and west hundreds are homeless and ruined.
 The damage will be very great.
 The rise in the waters continued during all of today. At Paris the Seine which registered s4s meters yesterday, had reached TAO meters at noon today. The normal height of the river at this season is PAS meters. The torrent almost touched the arches of the beautiful bridges and threatened the destruction of those works of art well known. The Pont de L'Alma is momentarily in danger and is guarded by police
 The sharp cold of yesterday led to the hope of abatement of the floods. but this morning heavy snow set in and turned in the afternoon to rain. It is still falling. This aggravated the situation and caused great suffering
 A dispatch from Chalons Sur Marne says that a huge volume of water is sweeping down stream toward Paris M. Lepine, prefect of Paris, after tour of inspection in automobiles this afternoon, took the gravest view of the situation.
 The weather bureau" said he pre- diets further rise of 30 centimetres to- night. I do not know what to do in the face of this situation"
 Water Main Bursts.
 Tonight one of the water mains serving five of the most populous arrondissements fin the south and east of the city burst and three districts are without water. It is feared that the city will be in a like condition very soon as the flood is invad- ing the pumping stations.
 The compressed air factory which sup plies the elevators in Paris also has been forced to shut down.
 The sewerage system is impaired on ac count of the flood and as a result the intersecting sewers overhowed into the streets Many streets are without elec- tric lights and trolley traffic to the east ern suburb is out of commission for the same reasons
 The main track of the Lyons railroad has been partially cut and it is feared that traffic on this line will be completely suspended tomorrow.
 The officials of the prefecture are busy providing for the exigencies. but the homeless are finding great difficulty in se- curing shelter.
 Several of the streets on the riyersides or Passy and Auteuil are uninhabitable
 Many of the residents were compelled to vacate their quarters yesterday and about zeo more vacated homes today
 Houses Sink In Mud.
 considerable number of houses have been sunk in the soft mud and water, and on the Boulevard St. Germain a house under course of erection is threat ening to fall on the chamber of depu- ties.
 There is big hole out of the foreign Office place extending to the street. and the main gas pipe in inc adjoining street IS broken, giving rise to considerable ap- prehension.
 The 1nvalides railroad station next door is partially inundated and the eel lars of the Palais D'Orsay hotel are flooded. The basement of the Louvre museum is invaded and the military storehouse is flooded, the steam heating plant of the former place being ruined.
 Thousands of people thronged the banks of the river today and watched the waters rush by. One of the few casual ties reported was the sweeping away of man who was trying to drag out some floating logs.
 The situation in the outskirts of Paris is even worse than within the city prop CT. The prefect of the Seine tonight made an urgent request from his department to the government for funds to assist the homeless. At He St. Denis. Fitrey. Maison-Lafite, Argentuie and Poissy all the lower quarters are inundated as far as Ivy.
 At Juvisy the aviation ground is half submerged. At Alfortville the dam burst, overwhelming 200 houses. The people were forced to flee from the modern Venice.
 Great Lakes Formed.
 With the interrup of telegraphic and telephonic comm ion the exact situation in the proS So 's difficult to determine, but there ar of i'm provement i- -he situation oirf Rhone, Mar and Tonne, the ul,~ reaches of u cine and Aube On tfS other hand tl ore and Doubs valleyj one huge lak ,ut ten miles broad. six villages ofs alone are showiu above the wa Iff
 It is said tA Is lake is now fallinIg but a snowst as set in. J
 Most of thu rs of the troops akr making bread of the great bakkr ies have esca struction. The whRh champagne rd in a critical positi4n
 Vitry-le-Frt in the departmdni / of Marne, sti ,lated in the midpf of lake | more wide. All tho country betwd gny and Larsco,tFt is under watel le latter place set~ eral houses cd The villas a\ tside of Marne are submerged. n iage Is enormous. The main roadl Troyes to Chalons boe ont tx, ,,llo