DELUGE IN JAMAICA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 507, 16 November 1909, Page 4

DELUGE IN JAMAICA.

GREAT LOSS OF RIFE. London, Nov. 13. A hurricane, accompanied with a deluge causing great floods, has caused huge destruction to property and some loss of life in the British Island of Jamaica (West Indies) and in the neighbouring Island of Haiti, comprising the negro Republics of Haiti and San Domingo. Owing to the breaking of the cables, no news had been received from Jamaica for five days. Prior to the interruption, great floods in the island were reported. News is now to hand showing the great extent of the calamity. DAMAGE IN JAMAICA ONE MILLION.

For some weeks the rainfall in Jamaica has averaged 10 inches daily, resulting in floods and landslides, inundating the lower lands and causing havoc in the plantations. The damage in the capital, Kingston, and its neighbourhood is estimated at ,£50,000, and a. number of people have been drowned.

A cablegram from Kingston assesses the damage in Jamaica as a whole at a million sterling. The Kingston waterworks have been destroyed, and railways and tunnels have been blocked owing to land-slides. Several bridges have been destroyed. One-third of the banana plantations on the northern side of Jamaica have been ruined. The roads are impassable, and many villages are isolated. The town of Annotta Bay, on the north coast, is flooded to a depth of three feet.

CALAMITIES FUND WILL BE SWALLOWED.

It is estimated that the Jamaican Government’s Calamities Fund, amounting to ,£IOO,OOO sterling, will be exhausted in repairing bridges, roads and railways. Haiti and San Domingo have also been devastated by flood, and several small towns are in ruins. Many lives have been lost in Haiti which has been further damaged by an earthquake.