The pioneer express., 1910-01-28
RIVER SCENE is A RUSHING
ToRRENT-vALLEYs AND
PLAINS INUNDATED.
PARIS A SECOND VENICE
Cities Are In Darkness and Hundreds
Of Persons Homeless
Now Becoming
Grave.

Paris, France.-The flood situation
in Paris has reached more critical
stage. The Seine registeres 1853 me-
tiers at Pont Royal. This is the high.
est the river has been since 1902,
when it reached $3.50 meters, the high
est point recorded in the history of
france except in the year 1915.
A terrible tempest of rain and wind
which broke over the city at daylight
added to the horror of the situation
and to the suffering of the hundreds
of poor and homeless.
The river presents an awe-inspiring
spectacle.
A quarter of million people in a
'drenching rain through the stone para
pets and quays watching the yellow
tide which is crowded with driftwood,
wine casks and other wreckage, rush.
ing seaward
The water now is almost flush with
1.-The arches of the bridges.
Bridges Are Endangered.
Firemen, police and troops are work
ing like mad at all the bridges, disen-
tangling the blockades resulting from
the floating debris, and it is hoped
that all the bridges will be saved.
Traffic on several of the frazier ones,
however, has been stopped.
Streets around the chamber of depu-
ties are unsafe and all traffic in these
thoroughfares has been forbidden.
The tunnel between the Quai dor
say and the Quai d'Austerlitz stations
is rushing stream. The basement
OF the Palais de Justice is full of
water and the first floor of the central
police station is untenable.
The partial crippling of the water
supply threatens the capital with a
water famine. The police are making
"a house to house canvass notifying the
inhabitants to boil all water used for
drinking purposes and thereby avoid
the danger of typhoid epidemic.
Traffic Partly Suspended.
The surface and underground rail
ways which barely are sufficient un-
Ger normal conditions to come with
the traffic, remain partly suspended.
Railroad traffic, however, now is ut
terly demoralized and completely sus.
pended to the southwark of Paris.
The situation at suburban places up
and down the river is deplorable. The
lower quarters of all the towns on
the river below Paris are under water,
the streets of Auteuil resembling
those of Venice.
The lower portion of Bois de Bo.
Iogne is a blanket of water reaching
to Bagatelle. Judging from reports
received from the provinces, quarter
OF France is under water
The cities of Montargis, Macon, Cha.
lone-Sur-Soane and Epernay and the
entire champagne country is expert.
encing the most disastrous floods
since 1856. The water in many of
the villages along the Soane and the
Marne reaches to the roofs of the
dwellings.
At Verdun-Sur-Le-Doubs, a small
town IL miles from Chalons-Sur-Saone,
the protecting dyke is breaking and
the town is threatened with destruc.
tion.
The factories and mills have stopped
work at Mezieres, Sedan and other
places in the Moure valley. Great
damage has been done to the beautiful
French places. The Garonne and Dor
Gogne rivers are rising rapidly. The
village of Carnao is surrounded by a
lake.
1t is impossible to estimate the
property loss as result of the floods,
but it will run into millions Of francs.
Fortunately the loss of life has been
small
Snow and rain are adding to the
floods, which are unprecedented in the
history of the present generation.
Premier BRAND introduced bill
appropriating $4,000 for the relief of
sufferers from the floods.