Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-02-02
More Than $50 Die
In Flood and Storm
In Western Europe

In Western Europe
oContinued From First Page.)
stanton on the North Sea coast
of Lincolnshire
The spokesman said eight
other Americans were missing,
seven IN the Hunstanton area
and sergeant at Bentwater base
near Ipswich. There was also an
unconfirmed report that a IA
year-old American boy was miss
ing in the BentWater area.
The Air Force withheld the
names of all the dead and miss
ing, pending notification of next
Of kin.
DiSeaae Threatens.
Here in holland and Belgium.
the stricken little nations mus
tered all their resources to meet
mounting dangers and disease
and starvation Search teams
were unable to contact many
flooded areas.
In England, particularly, GRIM
faced officials feared that many
more residents along the eastern
coast had been swept out to sea.
Flood Voters Rovoge
Holland and Belgium
Preaching Hollands historic
dikes in countless places. the
flood waters poured inland as
much as 40 miles at some points.
Hardest hit were the provinces
of iceland AND Northern Bra !.
bant, in Southern Holland, the
Tristan isle of Texel and the
island of Walcheren. the mouth
of the West Seheldt.
At some points the swirling
floods were 80 feet deep. Farm
ers faced months and years of
hard toll to reclaim the salt
damaged acres for agriculture.
Authorities estimated that
areas populated by 4 million
Dutch and BelgianS were flooded. |
The waters poured south into
Belgium, flooding even wider
areas of Flanders and turning |
the great port of Antwerp into a
city of confusion. Telephones and
electric lights were knocked out.
Ships in drydocks were over
turned.
50 Cities Ask Aid.
More than so cities and towns
messaged for emergency aid. |
Many others could not even be
contacted. Emergency radio cir
cults cracked with a confused
tumble of calls for aid.
In Gravendeel - population
S.316-55 were reported dead.
To the west, the twin islands
of Goeree and Over Flakkee re-
ported 40 casualties and asked
urgently for a big steamer to
evacuate the population.
So far. 80 drowned had been
reported from the island of Zee
land Province. Some of these
islands still were cut off from
the outside. Nord Beveland-
more than so square miles in
area-waS said to be totally |
under water. Another iceland
island. Schouwen-Duiveland, also
was out of touch.
Both Holland and Belgium
proclaimed a state of emergency
as thousands tried to plug the
gaping holes in the bikes.
Juliana Visits Scene.
Troops were rushing to help
and those on leave were sum-
moned back to emergency duty.
The Netherlands Queen Juliana
and her 72-year-old mother, for
mer Queen Wilhelmina. went to
the flood area this morning to
comfort the stricken.
Two battalions of French army
engineers were dispatched to the
stricken lowlands. Despite it's
own catastrophe across the
Channel. Britain's Royal Navy
ordered four helicopters to Walk
enberg. Holland, to assist.
United States Army forces in
Germany sent a group of engi-
neers and a small survey team.
1t. Gen. Manton S. Eddy, United
States Army commander in chief
in Europe, followed up with a
flying visit to see what help his
forces could give.
Premier Willem Drees sum-
moned the Dutch cabinet into
emergency session. He planned
to report to Parliament on the
disc Star t0n0rr0w