SNOWSBOUND BRITAIN

Hokitika Guardian, 30 December 1927, Page 2

SNOWSBOUND BRITAIN

(Australian & N.Z. Cable Association. DISASTROUS FLOODS FEARED. LONDON, Dec. 28. Britain is still in the grip of Arctic

conditions-. Nine degrees of frost is now prevailing and this increase the difficulty of clearing the snowdrifts. Numerous hamlets, especially in the Mendips aiul other hill districts, have been cut oil' since Christmas Day. receiving no letters, no papers, and very little food ; while telephone lines were disorganised, so that communication was practically impossible. Doctors on Salisbury Plain are unaliTe to reach the sick and children are being horn without medical help. The drifts on the Plain were often twenty feet deep. The doctors say that they attempted to force their motors through the drifts, but failed. Army tanks assisted in forcing passages through the snowblocked roads at Tidworth, and elsewhere on Salisbury Plain. Two infantry battalions are assisting to clear the Andover Road. Three dragon tanks, by crushing the drifts, enabled the omnibus service to reach the Camp. Tanks also brought mails, milk and provisions, which wore running low in the camps. One tank rescued a number of women passengers who were stranded on the railway line near Bulford. Three hundred families are now housed in public halls in Canterbury, and others in local barracks.

For the third day fierce north-east gales swept the Channel. Terrific seas were running. These flooded the hatches and hurst the bulkhead of the ladies’ saloon on the cross-Channel packet, causing consternation among women and children as the water poured into the crowded saloon. Disembarkation was exceedingly difficult, some women being so ill that they had to he carried ashore.

General disorganisation in the districts has hitherto proven!ed a realisation of the blizzard’s full toll, which is now twelve. Important outlets from London are still blocked hy Dozen drifts, between five and twenty feet, or by floods. Eight are open, but necessitate careful crawling owing to the ice-surf.trod hills. Motorists endeavouring to reach London relate that after trying road after road, travelling at a walking pace, frequently shovelling smaller drifts, they were eventually driven back by a colossal drift packed level with the roadsides; finally giving up and proceeding to London hy train. All roads are strewn with abandoned ears and motor cycles, the occupants walking miles, seeking refuge. Some drifts are miles long. Hard frost has now set in, rendering its removal almost an impossible task.

Complete restoration of road communications is unlikely until a tha". On the other hand, continued frost is the chief hope of preventing disastrous floods.. The Thames Valley and Thames tributaries are rising and Riiunymede is submerged. 11 the snow melts before the flood water lias dispersed, thousands more tons will ho released. Nevertheless, many districts are praying for a thaw to remove the enormous drifts completely cutting off the world and resulting in shortening food supplies. Despite the use of rafts, punts, snow ploughs, and sledges, tales of motor buses marooned in various dis-

tricts arc frequent. Passengers are often forced to spend the night on buses or walk to the nearest town, perhaps only to find the train communication blocked, resulting sometimes in two days’ imprisonment. The railways generally report that conditions are returning to normal, although there are many delays owing to lroy.cn points and signals, and there are snowdrilts on some lines, notably in Hampshire and in the neighbourhood of Basingstoke. which caught the full force of the blizzard. A completely blocked train, snowed up on Christ mas night a! Alton, has not yet been released. The steamer F.ngadine. which crossed the Channel from Boulogne to-day, was continually swept by mountainous seas and limll.v bartered. The Dieppe. Xewhavon, Southampton and Havre services emitinu'o,

Floods completely surround Canterbury, 500 bouses being flooded. Two thousand people are living in bedrooms and are supplied with food from boats. Villages in the vicinity are isolated. The homeless are aeconimodated at the deanery and barracks. The Mayor is raising a relief fund.

Road traffic in Cornwall and Devon, where snow is very rare, is completely disorganised and steamers are supplying food coastwise. Firemen took four hours to cover eight miles, digging out a mile-long drift. London boroughs are employing thousands of unemployed to clear (lie streets, costing L'.'OOO daily.