FLOODS IN U.S.A.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 November 1927, Page 2

FLOODS IN U.S.A.

Australian & N.Z. Cable Association.]

FLOOD DAAIAGE REIuRTS

NEW YORK, Nov. 0

With freezing weather and snowstorms gripping inundated New England, and the known dead totalling one hundred, the stricken area is undergoing a second phase of the greatest natural disaster in the history of this territory since the settlement three hundred years ago. Aviators are endeavouring to carry supplies to Vermont. The sufferers were driven back by heavy snows. While the flood waters are now receding from tbe northern section, they have flowed as far south as tfie suburbs of the city of Hartford.

Radio messages indicate that the most urgent needs in the way of supplies were salt, sugar or saccharine; yeast and drug supplies being ade-

quate. Herds in some of tbe most prosperous dairying areas have been destroyed while many large poultry farms have been wiped out. The tobacco fields ot Connecticut have also suffered greatly. The main manufacturing plants, principally textiles and large hydroelectric establishments, have boon destroyed or have suffered heavy damages. A dozen communities to-night are without light, heat or water, the sources of the latter being polluted by overflowing sewers. Roads are impassable ; bridges are down and the greater part of communications are not yet established. All relief efforts are radiating from Boston, which has sent platoons of troops, including medical units, in motor lorries. These are penetrating into the various areas slowly. The principal danger point for further floods appears to be tbe AA indsor Locks, Connecticut, where the Connecticut River stands 29 feet above the mean level, and is rising at tbe rate of one foot hourly, forcing many families to vacate their homes and scek liigher lands. Tbe city of Hartford, which stands at tbe head of steamer navigation on the Connecticut River, to-day suffered its first casualty when a four-vear-old boy was drowned. The cities of AYaterhury, Naugatuck, Derby and Ansonia, all large manufacturing centres are being threatened. Property damage already suffered in the storm area exceeds fifty million dollars.