THE LOUTH DISASTER

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 212, 2 June 1920, Page 7

THE LOUTH DISASTER

OVER SEVEN HUNDRED PEOPLE HOMELESS. London, May 31. Damage at Louth is estimated at i!250,0C0. Over seven hundred people are homeless. The river, rose ten feet in forty minutes, and swept through the town at forty miles an hour. About a thousand houses were damaged.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn. . • (Rec. Juno 1, 10.5 p.m.) London, May 31. Horncastlo, twelve miles south-west of Louth, was isolated from Saturday until to-day, the roads being flooded to a depth of five feet and tho railways impassable. Great damage was done to property, but no lives were lost. Pedestrians in the Manchester district onlv saved themselves on thei high roads' by swimming with the flood UMlsre.

There is terrible desolation in Louth, tons of debris lying everywhere amidst black mud, including 'motor-cars, pianos, and bedding. Several children were trapped on tho ground floor of a house. The mother vainly tried to save them by piling up furniture and putting them on top. In another case a mother mado her children climb a high dresser, and hang on to hooks in the ceiling when the dresser collapsed, until three children let go tho hooks and were drowned. The mother and one child were saved.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.