STORM IN ENGLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1928, Page 2

STORM IN ENGLAND.

HEROIC RESCUER TRAPPED. (By Telegraph—Per Press Association.) LONDON, Jan. 9. Though there is a danger of a further catastrophe until Tuesday night, there was no recurrence of the floods on Sunday night. Details* accumulating emphasize the horror of the tragic happening, which was increased by the total unpreparodness ol the victims.

“Good God! The river is over-flow-ing. Get up quick!—the children! cried one woman to her sleeping husband. This was typical of the first warning in homes. Terror was increased by the failuio of the lighting. Galloping mounted police gave warning in many cases, and in others, police or firemen were quickly on the scene, otherwise many more would have been drowned, as sleeping ivi basements is common in the poor districts near the river. 'l’he trapped men and women in Westminster must have known their doom as surely as sailors in a sunken submarine.

The heroine and hero of the tragedy were .Miss Frankie Isse, and Mr l 1 rank Wellsher. The woman awoke to find her bedroom half full of water. She escaped through a window, where she found a hoy drowning, to whom she tied a rope and hauled him to safety. Wellsher lost his life trying to rescue people in a Westminster basement.. He was a champion swimmer, and brought some men and women to ail upper lloor; returned to the basement hut the door hanged behind, and was held by the force of the water, so that Wellsher was unable to escape again. The full extent of the damage is only slowly being revealed.

Billingsgate Market and Thames street were Hooded, the position being very serious. A Yeoman of the Guard, sleeping in a dungeon of the Tower of London, awoke to find his trestle hod floating and when he jumped out it was into four feet of water. Insurance experts point out that insurance for such damage is not recoverable, unless specified in a policy. Poor homes and furniture are covered with filthy slime, and pianos and other valuables are spoiled. The occupiers of some of the wrecked homes earned considerable money by charging fees to curiosity mongers. Thus women stepped from luxurious ears, paid half a crown to see the real life chambers of horrors, with broken doors, overturned furniture, and drying bedding. DAMAGED APT TREASURES.

Much of the damage is not so serious as at first was feared. Thus, alarmist reports spoke of the damage to pictures in the Tate Gallery, running into hundreds of thousands sterling. It is true that many sketches, including Turners, were engulfed, hut Sir Charles Holmes, director of the National Gallery says that they survived better than any one hail hoped. Most of the Turner sketches were pencil outlines without public interest as real treasures. They were exhibited on the ground floor, where the uninjured sketches arc drying nicely as they were promptly laid out on the floor of the gallery, and the oornorr pinned down to prevent crinkling. A dozen Landseer paintings were Seriously damaged. This is probably the worst loss at the Tate Gallery.

Water poured through a breach in tlie river wall into the Hurlingliam Polo Ground at Putney, and the Tennis Courts at Raneleigh Gardens where the water was like.a river weir.

The bursting of the seawall at Maldon in Essex, also caused serious damage. The River Clone overflowed us hanks at Colchester. Fifty motor cars parked for a dance near Maldon were found by their owners in four feet of water.