THE FLOODS IN SPAIN.

Kumara Times, Issue 1028, 17 January 1880, Page 4

THE FLOODS IN SPAIN.

The Times of October 18 says:—“A disaster unparallel in Spain even by the floods of 1651 has occurred through the terrible inundation in Murcia. • It appears that a storm of hail and rain commenced on the evening of October 14, in the provinces of Malaga, Almeria, Granada, and Seville, and was especially violent in Murcia and Alicante, in the Segura Valley, where a drought of some months had greatly injured the agriculture and increased emigration to Algeria. The Segura and Mundo basin flanked by hills and mountains, is a plain covered with palms, villages, mills, many of them below the lower level of the beds of the rivers, and gullies dry at this season. Between midnight and 2 a.m., after a seven hours storm, the Segura and Mundo brought down such a volume of water that the plain was covered, the current Sweeping away dikes, sluices, mills, farms, and villages. Nondeurmas, Fra Alta, Torre Aguerra, Alcontarilla, and Larya, with their hundreds of bouses was carried away, and the plain for a stretch of thirty leagues was converted into a lake, to the destruction of forty miles of telegraph, several roads and bridges, and the railway. The towns of Murcia, Oriheula, and Lorca were invaded at night by the water, which extinguished the gas, overwhelmed churches and houses, and created a perfect panic. The authorities of Murcia by torchlight rescued the inhabitants of three villages, where the bursting of a dyke destroyed 200 houses. The hospital was flooded the patients, being with difficulty rescued. One hundred and forty corpses have been discovered at Murcia. For forty-eight hours it was impossible to succour the villages and farms where the losses are incalculable, and the waters are carrying down cattle, crops, and furniture. Many acts of heroism are cited especially of the gendarmerie and clergy. Orihuela and Lorca were surprised the same night, and most of the houses were carried away, the panic causing terrible scenes. At Murcia the number of victims exceeds 200, at Orihuela 50, and at Lorca 60. At Malaga the cathedral and several churches were flooded. In the villages of Almeria and Malaga there have been numerous victims, and the storm reached the localities near the coast, causing great damage in the small ports of Alicante. The total damage is estimated at 60,000,000 francs, 3500 houses and 120 mills being destroyed. The local authorities have to board and lodge thousands of outcasts. The King subscribed 50,00 francs, Murcia had for the last three years suffered from a drought which bad completely ruined its agricultural prospects, and just as a promise of good winter and spring crops was beginning to raise the hopes of the unhappy province, this terrible flood has swept all away. The region inundated has about 10,000 inhabitants. 570 bodies have been found in that province, and it is believed that the victims number 1000. In the village of Nouermas all the inhabitants perished except the priest, who took refuge in the belfry.”