FLOODS IN EUROPE.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 January 1926, Page 2

FLOODS IN EUROPE.

WATER RECEDES IN HOLLAND RHINE POSITION SERIOUS. [Australia & N.Z. Cable Association.. BRUSSELS, Jan. 4. Their Majesties to-day lengthily visited the inundated regions, around Namur and Dinant. The situation in the Liege, Namur and Brussels districts is generally improved, hut the position in the low-lying districts, notably in the Waes area, is worse. Their Majesties have subscribed twq million francs to the national fund for'T" the victims of the flood, comprising the money presented them on the occasion of their silver wedding last year, plus their personal gift of cue hundred thousand francs. 250,000 are workless in Belgium, where rations of bully beef and biscuits are being served out. There are nine thousand houses submerged at Liege. Its plight is becoming increasingly pitiable. Military’ resources and food distributors arc working at full pressure.. RHINE OVERFLOWS. BERLIN, Jail. 4. j- , The Rhine floods are serious. There '. have been great losses of live stock. The conditions at Cologne are tragic. Families are herded together in the upper rooms of the schools. They are dependent on food brought in boats. In the town there is complete darkness at night time.

FRENCH INUNDATION. PARIS, Jan. 4. Already the Oise River has beaten all records, including the floods of 1910 and 1920, it having risen tweivJWx The triangle between Creii, Beauvais and Movon is a vast sheet of water. Trains on the main line to Belgium are obliged to slow down for many miles, while sometimes the floors of the carriages' are swamped. The villagers in the Hooded areas have hurriedly evacuated their households. Goods are being transported on rafts. T’he flooding of the waterworks has resulted in a limited supply of drinking water and rationing from barrels. The rise of the Aisne River has,! flooded many streets of Soissons. ]£s train between Caen and Raint Lo was abandoned after the passengers were rescued. A child was killed and three persons injured as the result of the collapse of a house in Caen. Some estimates of the damage put it at twenty million francs. The rise of the Meuse River lias converted the streets of Mezieres into rushing torrents. Tt is feared that twenty thousand workers in the Meuse Valley will ho rendered idle for three weeks in eonsequence of the flooding of the faetories. . - AMSTERDAM, Jan. 4. The water has fallen a yard below vesterda.v’s high level at Maestricht. Trains to Liege and the northern parts of Holland are running, hut not for public traffic. Many homeless people have sheltered in military barracks. In view of the extent of the disaster, it is remarkable that there have been no fatalities.