FLOOD CATASTROPHE

Hokitika Guardian, 28 June 1926, Page 1

FLOOD CATASTROPHE

1,300 VICTIMS IN MEXICO. [Australian & N.Z. Cable Association.] SAN FRANCISCO, Juno 26. A despatch received from Nogales Arizona, on Saturday shows there is a flood disaster in Mexico. Ft said that it is estimated that tloods, following on the overflow of the Santiago River, in Guanguata State, Mexico have claimed 1,300 victims. All the bodies have been recovered. One fourth of the palliation is homeless and destitute.

The property damage is estimated at. four million pesos. The waters arc now receding. Torrential rains during the past fortnight caused the greatest floods in the history of the region. The unharvested crops were inundated. Entire business blocks in Leon have been swept away. Lines of the victims’ relatives arc passing through improvised morgues in attempts to identify missing relatives. Efforts to bring food and medical supplies to the area are hampered by the crippled rail facilities. Hunger is beginning to show its ravages. AIEXICO CITY, June 26. Floods swept the city of Leon, ill the State of Guanopunlo, from the river Gometi. The death list there is expected to reach one thousand. Half of the city lias been destroyed. There have been 387 bodies necover-

Twenty thousand mud bouses were destroyed. Relief workers who searched in the ruins declare that many other bodies are still buried in the mud. Many more are likely never to he recognised, because the victims were swept downstream in the raging torrent.

The water is now seven to ten feet deep in the lower sections of the city of Leon, in which entire families were buried.

The property losses there one estimated at seven million pesos. Federal troops have been ordered to proceed to the scene to take up relief work.