The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-12-07
600 DIE IN FLOOD
WHEN Dixie BREAKS
WHOLE FAMILIES PERISH IN
WAKE OF WATERS FROM
GLENO LAKE IN ITALY
THREE VILLAGES DESTROYED
Restraining Dam Gives Away Under
Overload of Continued Rainfall; so
Square Miles Area DesoIate

Bergamo, ItaIy.-Six hundred
dead, three villages destroyed and
so square miles made desoIate, is
the toll of the flood from GIeno
lake when the great dixie guarding
it collapsed, releasing the water,
which carried all before it. II
swept over the hills and down into
the valleys for distance of is
miles to Lake Izo, which checked
the momentum of the vast stream.
6ergamo valley is nothing but a
barren waste of mud and water
veritabie lake in which II is dan
gerous to venture, for In some
places it Is over mans head. In
victims lie tangled among fallen
trees, telegraph poles, buildings
and bridges. The homeless are
counted In thousands, most of
whom are mourning for lost reIa-
tives, or searching for their bodies.
Relief parties from Milan and Bres-
cia are on the scene. while all avail
able troops have been mustered to aid
the shelterless. The bishop of Berga-
NOR asked donations from the pope
for the purpose of undertaking imne-
diate. extensive relief.
There is great fear among the sur
vivors of other dams breaking, espcc-
tally as Sunday was the feast Of re
st. Bibbiana, on which, accordin -
popular superstition. If 1t rains, II VII
rain for 40 days and 40 nights.
lie three villages almost completo'y
destroyed were Dezzo, Corna q
Dueggio. OF the 600 inhabitants z
Dezzo, only three survived. The d's-
aster threatens to be one of the great
est Of its kind, because of the vast
amount of water let loose on the ccIn-
tryside. 1t destroyed hundred IF
homes. where families perished th-
out even realizing the tragedy which
overwhelmed them. The dixie, situated
three miles from Dezzo, was an i'm
mense structure, four miles long 7nd
35 yards thick. 1t served as Cam
for the artificial lake, situated ahct
5000 feet above sea level and c7n-
tanning 10 million cubic yards of W ~,
the source of which was chiefly Z.
glaciers of Gleno mountain. This
basin measured about four miles by
-wo, and cost 80 million lire.
Apparently the dixie yielded through
he Immense pressure OF the water at
he two ends where the masonry was
mbedded in the mountainslde. Tor
'ential rains are now occurring, rem
lering the disaster more menacing for
he homeless and hindering relief
work. The cold is intense.
Thus far, the dead are estimated at
700, but it has been impossible to
lscertain the exact number, for whole
amilies are missing The neighbor-
ng lakes and rivers have been raised
, to 20 feet. and on their surface float
'odies. some of which travelled many
niles from an altitude of 1000 feet,
arried by the awful deluge
Corna was practically buried, only
he barracks and the church standing.
The parish priest, Bernardo. saved
imself by climbing to the dome of the
hurch Though injured in the foot,
e soon organized relief work; he col
acted bodies taken from the flood and
cad burial services over them in the
title church.
The royal engineers relief corps al
eady< is beginning the construction Of
ridges across the flooded valley to aid
he villages of Schilpario and villa
fagglorre, which are surrounded by
'ater and their inhabitants in danger
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