THE LATE STORM AT THE CAPE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 244, 22 March 1875, Page 4

THE LATE STORM AT THE CAPE.

The Cape Standard and Mail of December 15th gives the following particulars of the damage done by the storm which raged in South Africa on the previous week:—"The delays of the post last week, and the brief telegrams which came to hand from day to day, conveyed that the storm of wind and rain which swept over*the Eastern districts of the colony had been most severe and unusual for this time of the year. But the great disaster which the storm had occasioned was beyond all anticipation, as it is beyond all our previous South African experience.

At East London the vessels which were lately at anchor there and now lie on the beach are the Coquette, Compage, Western Star, and the Floria. We also learn that the barque Verulam, of London, bound from Penang to London, had gone ashore off the burial ground, she is a total wreck, but the

crew have all been saved. At 8.35 a.m. yesterday the Civil Oommissioner of East London telegraphed to the Colonial Secretary—- " Violent southerly gale for the last thirty-six hours. Continuous heavy rains; frightful sea;, Buffalo river flooded beyond all previous experience; river mouth clean swept. Every ship ashore, total wrecks—Coquette, Compage, Western Star, and' Floria. Only one man drowned. The former vessels were discharged, the latter partly. No signs of abatement of the weather. . Barometer still rising 29.95." The old adage that it is an ill-wind which blows no one any good has been verified at East London, for although the beach is strewn with wreckage, the mouth of the river has been cleared, and the screw steamer Florence has been able to enter and discharge her cargo. We suppose the process of silting up will soon recommence, but we have heard the hope expressed that the works which are j now being pushed ahead will, to a very great extent, prevent the sand accumulating there as it has done before. Between' East London and foe Kei there. have been wrecked the James Gibson, the French barque Emile Maria, and the Italian vessel.the Anna Bello, the crews of all of. which have been saved. At the Kowei, Port Elizabeth, and the other coast ports, the. vessels appear to have ridden out the gale. The inland damage which has been done far exceeds that along the seaboard. At Queen's town, Fort Beafort, Graham's town, Aliwal, Dordrecht, and at Alice, the rain has come down so heavily as to flood the towns. At Alice the Civil Commissioner at one o'clock on Sunday, telegraphed to the Colonial Secretary—" Great Flood. Village inundated. Six houses in ruins. Great destruction in property. Several families rendered destitute. Public offices and gaol filled with refugees. Post office down; stamps and money saved. Several miraculous escapes." Our telegrams will convey some idea of the amount of damage that has been done at the several towns within reach of the telegraph; but the real extent of the mischief which has accompanied this terrific tempest we shall not know for many days, and we may expect that every post for a couple of weeks to come will bring us tidings from various parts. That so many vessels should have wrecked and so few lives lost is very remarkable, and we learn that the gallant behavior of a sergeant of police in swimming off to one of the vessels wrecked at Paardekraal was instrumental in saving the lives of every person on board the ship. The loss of property at East London and along the dangerous coast is very large. The damage done to frontier towns is unprecedented, although undoubtedly the most serious impediment in the way of traffic is the destruction of so many bridges. The mere loss of these bridges is roughly estimated at £300,000, but it is not so much their money value that the country will feel as the delay which must be caused in consequence of the bridges being swept away. The staging and ironwork have all been carried away, but the stone remains standing. The Fish River has been 45ft above its ordinary level and 20ft above what it has ever before been known to be at the highest previous floods. At Sunday's River on the 9th inst, the water was above the telegraph wire, and the consequence was that the wire and a number of poles were carried away and communication interrupted,