Evening star., 1953-02-04
Noyes
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Continued From First Page.)
apologies, 'but it's got big
windows" 1t is also well ven
tilated. The door has been re-
moved for the benefit of the
cameramen. With the help of
at least one silent prayer we
take off and head south along
the coast.
Signs Of the storm damage
can be seen from the start along
the beaches studded with
crumbling German pillboxes.
Pounding seas have carved a
new shore line in the sand dunes.
High up on the beach opposite
The Hague a Atom freighter
sits bolt upright surrounded by
a curious throng of Sightseers,
smoke still coming out of the
funnel. The dunes piled high
above the sea level have pro-
tected the city, but between
the city and the port at the
Hook of Holland thousands Of
greenhouses have suffered
heavily from the wind.
Roads and Cattle Vanish.
The big show starts as we head
out over water for Hollands is
land provinces of iceland, which
once stuck out like three fat
fingers into the North Sea. Last
week you would have known
them by houses and villages. To-
day most of the houses are still
there but for miles on end the
island fields, roads, cattle and
people have vanished under
water.
The sea dixie on the Island of
Goeree is about all that remains
to indicate the outline of the
land. Through what looks like
a 100-foot hole the water is pour
ing out toward the sea. On the
next high tide it will pour back
in again.
We fly over a town of some 40
houses clustered around a church
and people can be seen moving
down the street between the
buildings in a barge. Flying
about 200 feet over the farms on
the outskirts you see the dead
cattle floating feet up. The place
is swirling with floating debris
and straw. In. a garage a shiny
green tractor and a new car are
packed side by side, their tops
showing above the water. There
are no people.
Farmers in Worst Danger.
Duiveland Island to the south
is covered with isolated farm
houses separated by miles of
water from what is left of the
dikeS. These are the people who
are in the greatest danger. The
communities make good targets
for rescue work. In numbers
there is some safety and comfort.
But for the thousands Of isolated
farms there is little that can be
done, at least from the air.
We fly low over one lonely
farmhouse. The rear wall is
crumbling and there is a gaping
hole in the tile roof. Out of the
hole a signal-a bedsheet TIED to
a pole-is the only sign that
any one is still inside.
You fly on over the other
islands. Beveland, Walcheren,
South Beveland. The picture is
much the same. Here and there
cattle and people can be seen
moving along the dikes. In a
farmyard a couple of horses wad-
ing in water up to their bellies
slosh slowly toward their flooded
barn. On top Of a high pile of
straw solitary man stands mo-
tionless watching us fly away.
Tractors Pull Refugees.
In some places the water seems
to be receding. A long a flooded
road a line of tractors is moving.
pulling carts loaded heavily with
men. women and children. They
are headed for the higher ground
to the south. There you start to
see the ground rescue work
lines of army trucks. circling
transports dropping their car
goes.
In the deep water areas the