SNOWSTORMS IN ENGLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 29 December 1927, Page 2

SNOWSTORMS IN ENGLAND

HEAVIEST FOR YEARS. KAIL AND KOAD TRAFFIC DISORGANISED. (Australian & N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, Dec. 26. On Christmas Night London and the whole of England were mantled with snow, and later an Arctic blizzard swept the entire country, with a severity unexampled since 1906. It raged all night as well as the greater part ol to-day, the temperature being at freezing point. This is the first time that snow has fallen on Christmas Day in London for twentv-one years. Everything was covered to a. depth of several inches and trees were weighed down, making many pavements impassable. The absence of heavy traffic allowed the snow to accumulate in the streets, converting the whole of London into a gigantic Christmas card.

To-day horse-drawn snow ploughs are working, together with an army of labourers, but they are unable to cope with the downfall. In the suburbs the unexpected visitation of the old-fashioned Christmas brought widespread havoc. Early omnibuses and trains crawled along sedately, while trains were disorganised, and it was hours before they were able to run anything like proper services.

Sports, including the AYaratabs’ match against London, were widely abandoned, and motoring was called off. .Many villages wore isolated, and travellers caught on the roads were stranded. At Guildford, near London, two double-decker buses were completely buried in snowdrifts, and the passengers had to walk a mile to their destinations or to pick up other means of transport. Several •branch line railways were impassably snowed up all day. Railwaymen describe as unprecedented the drifts between Salisbury and Basingstoke, which are twelve feet deep in places. Snow ploughs are at worlc clearing the lines.

A few hours after Big Ben was heard in Australia through the radio it stopped, owing to the weight of snow accumulating on the hands proving too great for the veteran to manage. This is the first time that such a thing has happened in the clock’s history. Every district reports severe falls, and blizzards of varying intensity arc causing damage to property and disorganisation in the routine of life. VILLAGES ISOLATED. In the Peak district of Derbyshire the blizzard snowed up every road in the region of Matlock and men are digging a way to isolated villages. Scores of sheep are buried in snowdrifts in the Welsh mountains. Telephonic communications are widely Interrupted, the overhead wires being damaged.

Snowfalls in several instances were so heavy that tin* Air Ministry was unable accurately to gauge them. It is calculated that the fall in London alone exceeded 12,000,000 tons, which, coming on top oi twelve hours’ rain at a time when large areas are already flooded, is giving rise to fears ol serious consequences.

Floods are particularly bad in Yorkshire and the southern counties. The Thames overflowed in many places, and hundreds of acres were inundated, including all roads leading to Chertsey and Shepperton, where dwellers in bungalows are marooned. Gales are raging in tin l Atlantic, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. Many battered vessels are arriving at Plymouth for shelter. Driving snow stopped public clocks and tore 8.8. C. aerials, so Hint broadcasting had to 1)0 cancelled. High seas at Deal swamped the promenade and nearby streets, causing considerable damage. .Many aerodromes are waterlogged. TRAINS SNOWED IN.

The railway authorities, who have been engaged in a ceaseless struggle in the last two days to keep services going, say that this is the worst time they have had for years. •Snowfalls dislocated services throughout the country, especially on branch lines. Snowdrifts in some places in Devon were twelve to twenty feet deep. The most astonishing exploit oT tin* rniiwaymen was getting the Scottish express through on the journey from London only 50 minutes late. A London-bound train with sixty passengers encountered a landslide in a blinding snowstorm near Stourbridge on Christmas Night. Hundreds of tons of earth and snow fell on the track, and the engnie was embedded in the debris. The train was derailed and the coaches inclined at an angle of 45 degrees. The passengers wore terrified and the women hysterical, hut no one was injured. Several other trains had to he dug out of drifts ton to twelve feet deep.

GALES IN THE CHANNEL. LONDON, Dec. 27. Special snow trains were put on some services to keen open the lines around London. They were fitted with brushes to sweep the snow from live wires and prevent short-circuiting. One snow train was derailed at Orpington. Snow aided burglars on Christmas night to steal £IOOO worth of furs from a Regent street shop. They smashed a plate glass window, the glass falling silently on to the snow, and the thieves walked in and out of the window as thev desired. North-easterly gales-nre raging in the Channel. At Deal the waves reached GO feet. The usual 75 minutes’ crossChannel journey from Dover to Calais took four hours, and one boat was unable to leave port at all.