THE PARIS FLOODS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2179, 18 June 1914, Page 5

THE PARIS FLOODS

TWENTY LIVES LOS.T. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright \\ - Paris, Juno 16. Twenty fatalities havo been reported as having been caused by the phenomenal storm which visited Paris yesterday. Four bodies have been recovered at the Place St. Augustin Two inches of rain fell in thirty-five minutes. A hole sixty feet by ten /suddenly appeared under the tramway at Porto Gligancourt to-day. Lightning struck a suburban church, killing four and injuring several persons. The Prefect is of opinion that the subsidence was due to over-congestion of the tram traffic. CAUSE OF THE.SUBSIDENCES. (Rec. Juno 18, 0.30 a.m.) ' Paris, June 17. Most of the subsidences wero duo to tho bursting of tho new sewers, which were parallel to tho underground railways. Tho sewers were unable to carry the Hood waters, and burst. The water caused the railway tunnel to collapse, and caused short circuits in tho electric cables, which exploded the gas. It is believed that the 1910 floods loosened the subsoil at Saint Lazaire. Tho' real cause of tho disaster is that tho whole city in recent years has been dangerously undermined with pipes, which havo been placed too near the surface. Four choir boys wero engulfed and killed when leaving St. Phillips's Church. Ropes havo been placed across the streets to indicate the danger zones, and hundreds of soldiers and police are guarding the approaches. Firemen and labourers are searching tho debris. A number of people arc still missing.