FRENCH FLOODS

Hokitika Guardian, 10 March 1930, Page 5

FRENCH FLOODS

FLOOD’S EFFECTS

IN SOUTH OF FRANCE

[United Press Association--By Electric:

Telegraph—Copyrglit.J

PARIS, March 7

Eye witnesses report that the llooucd area in the South of trance is even more horrible to contemplate I tiffin were the shell-shattered departments of France in 1914-18. The breakdown of the communications is serious, and the problem oi feeding the people is a most acute one. Aeroplanes are now dropping parcels of food into the villages that are surrounded by water, as the current is still too swift to allow a boat to live in it.

Shocking stories continue to come in of poor wretched people being carried away under the eves of the wouldbe rescuers. One woman was clinging to a chimney, and she gradually was submerged by the water without a cry or a struggle. The bridges on the River .Taronne are collapsing under the floods, but the water generally is receding. Districts which have been 30 feet under water are now only submerged for nine feet.

It is estimated that the full work of reconstruction will occupy years. The plans include a scheme of afforestation, designed to safeguard the districts against another inundation. The sacrifice of most of the woods in wartime is considered to have been largely responsible for this disaster. There are still conflicting accounts of the death roll. Some reports state that 700 lives have been lost/but an official check indicates that at least 500'are dead.