THUNDERING WALL OF WATER INVADES TOWN

Chronicle (Levin), 23 December 1946, Page 5

THUNDERING WALL OF WATER INVADES TOWN

TRAIL OF DEVASTATION IN ITS WAKE s LONDON, Dec. 22. Thinly-clad residents of Kainan, a town just south of Wakayama with a population of 26,000, climbed on the tops of their houses and watched a | senes oi tidai waves roar tnrougn, cleaning it out, says a Kyodo News Ageney eorrespondent. The first wave struck the town at 5.30, about an hour after the eartfiquake, but caused relatively minor damage. It was preceded by a rumbling sound resembling thunder far out at sea. Many persons were drowned or •swept away and the lucky ones tooz: refuge on housetops or on high ground. The second wave, whieh was worse, occurred 40 minutes later. It was a wall of water more than 10 feet higli and it struck the town with terrifying force. After shattering the breakwater the water came through the streets in torrents, flooding every.house, washing away- the; furnitiu^j. niowing down fences, ? uprooting tiees: and sweeping away every loose object in cluding vehicles. A small fleet oi fishing boats in the bay was torn from its anchorage and dashed into the town with the full force of the wall of water behind it, adding to the damage and debris. .The last of the six waves came at 8.30 a.m. There has been no communication with Awaji Island, at the eastern enC of the Inland Sea, whieh was in the path of the wave as it surged through Kii Srait. Heavy damage is expected at Awaji beeause the water would rusli from the open sea through the narrowing strait as though through a funnei. Consequently the wave would he mucli higher.