FLOODS IN NEW ENGLAND.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19152, 8 November 1927, Page 9

FLOODS IN NEW ENGLAND.

HEAVY SNOWSTORM.

RIVERS STILL RISING

(BT CABLI—PBISS ASSOCIATION —COFTUIGHT ) (AUSTRALIAX AND N.Z. CABLE A3SOCIATIOH.)

(Received November 7th, 8.50 p.m.)

NEW YORK, November 6,

With freezing weather and snowstorms gripping inundated .New England, and the known dead totalling 100, the stricken area is undergoing a second phase of the greatest natural disaster in the history of this territory since its settlement 300 jears ago.

Aviators attempting to carry supplies to the Vermont sufferers were driven back by heavy snows.

While the flood waters are now receding from the northern section, thoy have flowed as far south as the suburbs of the city of Hartford. .Radio messages indicate that the most urgent needs in the way of supplies weie salt, sugar, or saccharine, and yeast, drug supplies being adequate. Herds in some of the most prospoious dairying areas have been destroyed, while many large poultry farms have been wiped out. The tobacco fields of Connecticut also suffered ! greatly. The main manufacturing plants, principally of textiles, ami large hydro-electric establishments have been destroyed or suffered heavy damage. . . . The frozen communities to-night are without light, heat, or water, the sources of the latter being polluted by overflowing sewers. Roads are impassable, bridges are down, and the greater part of the communications have not yet been re-established. All relief efforts ar© radiating from Boston, which has sent platoons of troops, including medical units _in motor-lorries. These are penetrating into the various areas slowly. The principal danger point for further floods appears to be the Windsor Locks, Connecticut, where the Connecticut river stands 29 feet above its mean level and is rising at a rate of one foot an hour forcing many families to vacate their homes and seek higher lands. The city of Hartford, •which stands at the limit of steamer navigation on the Connecticut R.iver, to-day suffered its first casualty when a four-year-old bov was drowned. The cities of Waterbury, Naugatuck, Derby, and Ansonia, all _ large manufacturing centres, are being threatened. The property damage already suffer, ed in the storm area exceeds 50,000,000 dollars.

DEATH ROLL MOUNTS. VALLEY CITIES THREATENED. (by cable—fbess association— copyright.) NEW YORK, November 6. With the known dead now totalling 40 in the New England flood disaster, reports still persist in stating that the total will reach 200.

Flyers using amphibian 'planes were the first to penetrate the area, particularly Vermont and New Hampshire, the greater parts of which are still cut oif from all communication, but sporadic radio messages, principally from amateurs, have been received. Lieutenant-Governor Jackson, of Vermont, is among those dead, having been drowned while trying to reach his home at Barre, Vermont. A cold wave, has followed, and thfere is a scarcity of food supplies, coupled with the threatened bursting of further dams. Six hundred families to-day abandoned their homes.

The Governors of neighbouring States and the United States Government have put all their resources at the command of the stricken area. The stoppage of rail communication and the impassibility of the_ roads make the problem of giving aid. difficult. _ The crest of the flood is moving couth, and now threatens many valley cities in the neighbourhood of New York.

HEAVY DAMAGE REPORTED. NEW YORK, November A Boston message states that 123 have been drowned in the New England floods, and the, damage caused amounts to millions of pounds. The report of the Montpelier deaths was unfounded. ,