The Washington herald., 1911-01-01
EUROPE SUFFERS
BY INUNDATIONS
Large Part of Continent Is
Now Under Water.
ENGLAND Is WATER-L0GGED
Changes in the Sun and Deforesta-
ton Of America Are Among
Causes Assigned by Scientists for
Unusually Heavy Rains During
Past Year-Much Damage Done.

London, Dec. Sit is a long time since
a year has closed with so much of Eu-
rope under water.
England is Water-logged, SO much so
that farmers think that ths soaked con-
dition Of the soil will serioIEily affect the
next harvest. France is sl'fering even
more The Seine. Loire. and Dordogne
have been in a chronic state of flood for
weeks, and the streams THAI come down
from the hills have inundats1 large strips
Of the narrow Riviera plain. Visitors to
the Azure Coast complain that it may
with more justice be called the gray
coast
In Spain all the rivers from the Eb-o
in the north to the Guadaliuivir in the
south have overfiowed their banks. and
the latter river is threatening Seville. In
Madrid they have had abnormal rainfall.
Newspaper cartoons represent the inhab-
itants going about in diving dresses. The
ManZanareS, an insignificant stream, is
now a raging torrent.
Italy is no better off. Washouts and
landSlideS have tied UP several railroads.
and the swollen Po threater-S the eXpoSi-
ton buildings at Turin. The news to-day
from Switzerland is that q strong fohn
(warn wind is blowing in the Alps and
causing dozens of avalanches. 1t has
been raining practically without stopping
for the last week in all parts of Swift
zerland
Great Damage Done.
Lakes and rivers have risen several feet
and much damage has been done to roads,
quays, and railroads. The Bernina route
is blocked by three large avalanches and
it will take weeks TO cut through them.
In certain districts in Central Switzer-
land the weather is so mild that people
go about their work in their shirt sleeves
All Central Europe is suffering from
excessive moisture. and the latest add-
ton to the flood news is that the River
Dniper. at kief. Russia, has suddenly
risen twenty feet and that many river
craft have been wrecked and villages
have been swept away. Nor is that all
Heavy rains have interfered with the big
cricket matches in Sydney. Australia.
where it ought to he dry. Sunmery
weather. AdviceS from Buenos Ayre,
say that the weather is the same a. in
London which is nothing to boast
about Colonists in West Africa report
that they have had six weeks down.
pour in the dry season. an unusual thing
What does it all mean?
Sir Norman I1ockyer. director of the
Solar Physics Laboratory, says that We
needn't look for much Improvement un-
til the year 1918 has gone. He lays the
blame for the incessant rains upon
changes that are taking place in the sun.
These changes, he says. directly affect
the polar and equatorial regions and in
directly the middle attitudes. Dr. Lock-
yer thinks there will be more and more
rain until 1913. and after that less and
less, perhaps
Camille Flammarion, the Paris astronor
mer, is Of the opinion that the present
bad weather is in a measure due to the
deforestation of America.
barometer Pressure Low.
This year the pressure of the baron-
eter has been exceptionally low. and this
has caused continuous west winds These
winds from the Atlantic follow a course
which differs but slightly from that of
the Gulf Stream formed in the Gulf of
Mexico. NJ Flammarion continues:
.'On reaching Europe the wind current,
loaded with vapor, encounters cold land
regions saturated with water. and thus
1t becomes condensed in continuous rain
These winds from the west frequently
touch the earth in America and it Is an
admitted fact mat they are sometimes
delayed. or even partially obstructed, by
the land surface and the forests and
plantations through which they can only
enforce a passage with difficulty
This proves, according to NJ. Flam-
marion, that the deforestation of Amer
lea is one of the causes of the increase of
fcrnpests brought TO Europe from the
United States
The most melancholy forecast is that
of Prof. Bruckner, president of the Geo
graphical Society of Vienna, who carries |
his calculations back some Loo wears
He has construed cycle of some thirty
five years during which a slow average |
change in pressure. temperature, rainfall. |
and winds takes place
According to him. the last dry and !
warm half cycle occurred from 1856 to !
19O2, and since then the weather has |
gradually been deterioratinS. though nor |
NAL periods may occur in either cycle !
We are now in the thick of the cold and !
wet half cycle. and those who put their |
faith In Prof. Bruckner do not expect |!
much better till 1890