The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-03
Wall Of Water Sweeps Hun dreds In Path As It Pours Down Through Valley And Many Homes Swept Away MOTOR TRUCKS RUSH AID TO DRAGGLED REFUGEES Great Rocks Torn From Hill side By Cascade Plunge. Hospitals And Asylums Are Full Of Refugees
By FRANCISCO REA ed Mirc fn The ge-H.


 ROME, Dec. 2.--As draggled refu- gees pour into Bergamo and relief units are rushed by motor to the devastated zone, full details are now available of the devastation caused when the huge artificial lake at Dezzo burst it's dam and released 10000, 900 cubic meters of water upon the populated valley.
 Latest casualty lists report 500 dead, although the figure cannot be verified.
 Vivid stories of the flood are given by survivors. The water of the artificial lake, fed by. glaciers and swollen by recent heavy rains, went out suddenly, it's mad torrent pouring into the valley in cascade of de- struction.
 Solid Wall Of Water.
 pr. Cheisa Of Dezzo told how he was standing in front of the hospital at Darfo when he heard strange rumbling, and then saw a solid wall of water rush upon the town.
 Fifteen houses were swept away. The fate of their 100 tenants is un known, except for few whose
 
 Marshal Giuseppe Marchi, officer of the Carabinieri stationed at Cor rono reported that q similar rumbl- ing heralded the approach of the wave. Rushing to window of the barracks, he saw a four-story house opposite erumple up and disappear. He seized his wife and two babies and fled to, tine roof of the barracks. watching there as the waters spread out into huge lake that covered the site of the town. Trees and jumbled debris of wrecked homes floated in the lake.
 Houses Wrecked.
 Here and there in the lake stood the wreckage of houses, with people clinging to crumbling walls.
 When the water had slightly sub sided he rallied troops and began collecting bodies. The wave, in sweeping down the valley. had torn great rocks from the hillsides, hurl- ing them along in the path of the waters. Those who had been killed by these rocks were horribly mangled. The rockss lay in scattered confusion among the ruins of the houses.
 As soon as the news of the dis aster became known at Bergamo, prefect Cantone and Bishop Marelli
  relief squads of troops, firemen and Red Cross units.
 They found the population of the Brembagna. Scalve and Seriana val leys roaming the mountains under torrential rains. Roads had been , completely washed away, and com munications were most difficult Many bodies had been carried into Lake Iseo and the Oglior river. The majority of bodies found there were horribly disfigured and mutilated. arms and legs being severed. In some cases the bodies of men and women were recovered It miles away from their homes.
 Hundreds Of Refugees.
 Bergamo hospitals and asylums are full of refugees, who are arriving III a constant stream. Among the vlc- tims of the flood was the secretary of the local fascist organization at Darfo, who perished with all his family.
 Damages of the disaster cannot as yet be calculated, but are thought to be immense.
 The Darfo iron works, employing 800 people was demolished, but few of the bodies recovered from the wreekage of the structure have been identified. The rains continue. and aS ttiCpiODit ''o'i Bergamo and the stricken district has been severed, all reports of the catastrophe are greatly delayed.
 The dam which held back the artificial lake was located less than three miles from Dezzo. It closed Tn the Gleno valley, and contained waters from the River Pavo as well as from the glaciers from Mount Gleno. The dam, built two years ago. cost 3O OO0O 900 lire.