INUNDATION IN ROME.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 123, 4 August 1847, Page 3

INUNDATION IN ROME.

A letter from Rome ofthe 12th>.gives the following additional details of the late storm in that city :— " We know not how to describe td you the effects of the tempest which has deva»tated this 1 city fdb the last four days, and \jtjnch still continues, We never witnessed sucli %«a-|

ther ; the rain fell in torrents and the thunder rolled incessantly. The Tiber overflowed iti banks in the most frightful manner : one-half 1101 10 city is inundated by its waters, and the inhabitants of the Gorso bave five feet depth of water toiind their houses. All the quarter of the Campo Murzo, the Ghetto Ripelto, the Corso from the Place dv Peuple to the Place Colcuna has the appearance of a large lake. The inhabitants surprised by the rapidity of the inundation, found themselves prisoners in their houses without food, and several without anyassistance being possible. Since 1805 such a scene has not been witnessed. The loss has been immense. The shop* and cellars are under water, Yesterday the waters subsided a little. A part of the Corso is free, but boats still ply through the adjacent streets, earning provisions to those who are still imprisoned. The Jews' quarter has suffered the most, but the extent of the disasters cannot be known j the mails no longer arrive, and two or three bridges on the high road from Bologna, and in the Marches have been canied away." A cot respondent at Rome writes as follows :— " Rome is once more under water. For some days past the rajns have continued to fall incessantly; and on Wednesday morning the Tiber overflowed its banks, partially flooding the Via Kipetta. The river continued to rise gradually during the day j- towards evening a flight decrease was observed, and people went to bed satisfied that the worst was over. About 12 o'clock a suddfn accession of water completely inundated the streets in the vicinity of the river, and ail the lower portions of the city, and so terrifically rapid was the rise, that by four o'clock the Piazza del Popolo, the Via del Babuino, the Corso, as far as »,he Colonua, and all the connecting streets iucluding the Via Condotti, were only to be passed in boats. The utmost consternation prevailed, By daylight the waters had near reached to within a foot of the keystones of the arches of the Ponte Sisto, those of the Pontc St Augelo, Molle, and otheisleis elevated must have been completely coveted. The Pantheon of Coin-si, the Temple of Vesta, Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and all the excavated ruins in the Forum,, wece under water. The country from the Poncian'hill presented- 11 scene the most deplorable — one vast sheet of water, from which the roofs of houses and the tops of trees were alone visible. It is impossible at present to form an idea of the loss of life and property occasioned by this visitation. The amount of misery it will produce among the poorer classes is not to be imagined. Nothing approaching this as a flood has happened here since that of ISOS. The river from the Sisto presents an appearance absolutely frightful, the turbid waters boil and icar through the arches as if they would carry all before them, and trees, the woodwork of houses, curratelli, dead animals, aud every species of floating material, give a terrible forewarning of the nature of accounts yet to reach us from the country, i have delayed writing until I could tell you of the subsidence ofthefloodt It commenced to decrease two hours since, but the rain, which had ceased for six and thirty hours, has reccommehced, and should it continue through the night, we shall be in a worse condition than before. Under this emergency the energy' of the new government 'is strikingly manifest; Manyathouaands of loaves, wine and meat, in enormous quantities, are already in piocess of distribution, the Pope himself going in person to the more afflicted neigh* bourhood, and superintending their relief. The Prince Uorghese, too, has imitated' this example in a princely manner, aud all that can be done (o mitigate the sufferings of the poor. In the Jews* quarter the mischief has been severe, the people having been compelled to make holes in the solid walls to allow egress and ingress, the gates at both ends of that place being under water. Great as may be the present distress, the greatest has yet to come, and will. P.S.— I open my letter to I ell you I have just beard that a house containing 14 persons, all of whom have perished, has been washed away by the floods. I fear this is but one of many similar results of this awful visitation. Upwards of twenty magnificent stone pines, those joys. to painters, have been blown down upon the estate 0 the Uorghese, seven miles from Ho me.