FEN COUNTRY FLOODS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 54, 19 March 1937, Page 7

FEN COUNTRY FLOODS

Situation Eases in Britain j RUGBY, March 17. There iu acute anxiety in regard tojthe flood situation in the low-lying Fen( |Country of England, and the banks of jthe swollen Eiver Ouse and its tribu--jtaries are being constantly watched. : The Minister of Agriculture in the. jHouse of Commons this afternoon saidl 'that the floods had been engaging his .close attention, and in order to be kept in close touch with the position from 'day to day, an engineer had been sent ,to the district. Although the danger is not completejly past, the situation this morning showed a distinct improvement. Bulletins on the situation were broadcast at shorfc intervals during the night, and the people living in several villages were or,dered to higher ground. Over a wide area the inhabitants were told to stand by in preparation for evacuation. Welney Wash, for 20 miles of its jlengtn, was under wntnr. wiueh stood seven feet deep across the .road from Ely to Wisbeck. There was danger that the, sodden banks would give way in other areas. Hundreds of ffien were engaged in strengthening Jthe defences, and everywhere else every point of importance was maintained. The wind and the rain ceased about inidnight and the tide began to fall. No further rain has fallen to-day, and there is hope now that within a few hours the major danger which threatened the richest agricultural lands of England will have delinitely subsided.