THE GREAT FLOOD AT VELLORE. LOSS OF 1000 LIVES.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1236, 16 July 1872, Page 2

THE GREAT FLOOD AT VELLORE. LOSS OF 1000 LIVES.

[from the correspondent of the madras times.] VellorE) May 5; "■■** The disaster at Vellore is far more serious than was at first supposed. The results of the flood, so far as they can be at present ascertained, may be summe3 up aa follows :— About 12,000 people are houseless, or have lost their habitations ; . from 3000 to 4000 of these are absolutely destitute, being dependent, at all events for the present v on public support ; about 1000 people, it is now estimated, have perished, and the destruction of property; has been very great. Indeed, it is wholly impossible as yet to give anything like a reliable estimate of the pecuniary loss occasioned by the flood. ' „ ' It commenced to rain at Vellore on Wednesday, when 2in. were registered. There was not much wind on this day, but the atmosphere was close; there was a good deal of thunder, and altogether there were strong indications of a coming' cyclone. All Wednesday night and Thursday morning it poured incessantly, the water streaming out of the clouds " in bunches" as ah imaginative eye-witness aptly ex- : pressed it. That the fall was very extraordinary is shown by. Dr Fox's rain gauge at the dispensary, which marked no less than 32in. np to three o'clocfsS>n Thursday afternoon. A strong wind, with rotatory motion, accompanied the rain, and the belief was general that a cyclone was in progress in the neighborhood of Vellore. About three o'clock it ceased raining, when, strangely enough, a few minutes afterward, the whole town was startled , by the sadden descent of what seemed to be a sea of water, which swept like a storm-wave '.over tn> whole cantonment, entering the very windows of some of the nouses, and driving the occupants to the roofs or upper stories, covering the cantonment road to a depth of 6ft, and carrying y everything that could .not resist its force before it. Its approach was so sudden that there was, no time to make preparations for escape. A confused roar as of rushing waters, accompanied by the crashing of walls and trees, was heard, and people looked out of their houses, to behold . their compounds covered with water, and their Tery lives threatened by the rapidly rising flood. For a "time a great and very natural terror seized upon everybody, though nobody dared venture from their houses. All that could be done was to watch the flood rushing by, bearing with it men, womea, children, bullocks, goats, and debris of every description, in indescribable confusion. Confidence was restored, however, when it was found that the flood did not rise, and the European gentlemen of the station then began to wade out of their houses, and collected most of the ladies and children residing in the cantonment road into two of the houses that were situated on the highest ground— Captain Mayne's and Captain Macleod's. So high was the water at this time that the rescued ladies and children had to be carried on the men's shoulders. In an hour's time the flood sufficiently subsided! to enable people to wade about other parts of the town to see what destruction had been committed. Of course, the cause of the flood was soon surmised. It was known that the flood waters had come from some of the large irrigation tanks situated on higher ground a few miles out of ;Yellore« It now appears that no less than five o|} these tanks burst their bounds. They are all connected with' one another, and the supposition is that the higher tank went first, and brought down all the others like a pack of cards. The Coopum and Alapooram tanks are the largest, and are supposed. therefore to have committed the greatest injury. What the volume of water may have been that came' rushing down op the lower part of Vellore may be imagined when we say that the flood is stated by the authorities at the station . to have been quite a mile" in width, and eight or ten feet in depth in the main channel.

The district known as the Cusbah, contained alone about 2600 inhabitants. Not a single house' has escaped. The same remark applies to the lines of the families of the 13th, Hth, and 27th Regiments. The whole quarters came down en masse, and are now being rapidly and literalljp reduced to the lexel of the ground;. *TKe lines of the 28th Regiment being on a little higher ground did not fare quite so badly ; but at least half of the huts have been destroyed, while the remainder are in a very dilapidated condition. Nearly the whole of the dead bodies*** found are those of women, children, and old men. The lines indeed were principally occupied, by these classes. When the flood subsided, which it did to a^great extent in^ about an boor, no less than 200 dead bodies were found ill this immediate locality, either in the nullah or on its banks ; and the police' and gangs of convicts are continually turning up more corpses buried beneath the ruins af houses. Some of the dead have; jewels of more or less value about them, and it is to be presumed that money is also occasionally discovered, for a convict to-day was found out in secreting a rupee. Along with human bodies were found those of dead donkeys, bullocks, goats, and fowls.; The force of the flood here must have been very great, for in several places large treea are seen lying about that have evidently been brought from considerable distances. Down near the Polar bridge, however, the strength of the flood is even - more palpable. Here, at a point where the nullah is crossed by a narrow bridge, and where the road is raised at least 12ft above the level of the ground, about 60 yards of road, together with the bridge have been completely swept away. The result is, tint communication between the railway station and the town is temporarily interrupted, and passengers have to alight from bandies they may have hired on one side of the gap, and secure fresh bandies on the other. The ■ telegraph posts were also washed down, but these have already been put up again, and communication restored. ' The damage done in the cantonment is also very great, though the water here was not so deep as in the Cusbah. There Was, however, more valuable property to be destroyed. The cantonment road, before the flood, was as neat, tidy, and well kept as any road in the cantonment. Each house was situated in its own compound in orthodox Indian fashion ; and the municipality had been careful to insist on the compound walls being kept not only in good repair, but well white-washed. Alas, there is not now a continuous wall left. Here and

there are a few patches of bricks and mortar, or a solitary gate-post standing at an angle suggestive of considerable internal struggle to preserve a perpendicular. As a rule, however, the walls have sue cumbed, and the compounds still present such a slushy and marshy appearance, that an imaginative sportsman might be almost tempted to search there for snipe. The loss of life in some of these compounds was very considerable. Eight dead bodies were found in Captain Tabuteau's compound, and ten more in the adjoining. In another compound the dead body of a boy was found suspended as it were by the legs from the branch of a tree, In which the poor lad got entangled j while apparently trying to save himself. One man, who saved his life down in the Cusbah by clinging to a palm tree, was found with his arms,legß,and breast almost skinless, owing to his struggles to hold on. It is not expected that many more dead bodies will be found in the town itself ; though it is believed that many are lying about in out-of-the-way places near the river. It need hardly be said that the presence of dead bodies soon becomes apparent to European nostrils, and many corpses have been discovered the hut two days the municipal carts have been collecting and burying them in large deep trenches in the outskirts of the town. Stray corpses are still being discovered in out-of-the-way holes and corners, and that there is still some necessity for a vigilant search is shown from 'the fact that four bodies were only this evening found in a compound close by the police station. Mr Kelsall, the sub-collector of North Arcott, was happily at Vellore en Thursday, and took immediate step&to provide for the people who had been so suddenly deprived of all their wordly belongings. Fortunately there was ample accommoda- '^ tion in the fort for at least 5300 people, and that part known as the mahals, a fine two-storeyed quadrangular building, where Tipoo used to keep the ladies of his harem, was at once opened of the most destitute. The municipality on Friday held a special meeting, and voted 2000 rupees on account of the expense of maintaining the houseless and destitute people, and appointed a committee to collect subscriptions and distribute the relief fund.