FLOODS IN HOLLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 March 1916, Page 6

FLOODS IN HOLLAND.

HUGE TRACTS SUBMERGED. THE WORK ' OF CENTURIES WRECKED IN AN HOUR. Rotterdam, January 16. "I am standing up to my waist in water. The whole i'sland is Hooded, and the houses are giving way." At that moment the telephone cable between the island of Marken, in the Xuidei' Zee, and the mainland snapped.. So the outside world heard no more of the plucky 'operator's description of what vyas happening in that quaintly picturesque spot which lias suffered more than any other from the storm which has shattered the historic Dutch sea dykes and flooded miles of country north of Amsterdam, inflicting damage that cannot yet be estimated. Communication with the island by boat has not yet been affected, and we know that sixteen people hav# lost their lives in the floods, cattle have been swept away, that the wrecks of the picturesque old fishing craft lie piled up on each other in the harbor, and the remaining inhabitants peer out from their attic windows upon an immeasurable waste of angry grey water. Eight bodies have, so far, been recovered. When the firce north-west gale of Thursday drove the sea down into the Zuider Zee the water eam'e like a tidal wave, casting into the sea the walls of the mainland, and mounted the dykes of Marken on all side. No boat could have got people off in time, and, leaving the cattle to their fate, men and women climbed to the attics of their dwellings or perched on piles, fearing the worst, hilt hoping that the skilful work of their forefathers would hold out against its ancient enemy. BOATS SMASHED LIKE TINDER. It is a tribute to the Dutch engineers that every soul on the island is not lost. As it is only four houses escaped damage. Everyone is still in danger, and it is not improbable that more lives have been lost. In the mad rush of the waves solid fishing boats were smashed like tinder; two small vessels were lifted or to the roofs of a group of houses, wrecking the dwellings * and drowning the inmates. From the meagre details at present available we learn that in one of them a man, his wife and two children were drowned. In another house, which was crushed, eight people clambered from beam to beam as the house ottled down, and last of all clung for diar life to the rafters, screaming for help that could never come. As their strength failed they dropped into the swirling waters one .b'v one and were borne nwav, the "beam still pointing upwards as ?. mocking monument to their struggle for life. In another house the three daughters were surprised in their beds, and Marken beds are like huge cupboards, the children sleeping on the floor, the parents 011 an ample ledge above. Their bodies have just been discovered, the girls locked in each other's arms. When the house of Claej De Waard was washed off its foundations, a woman was last seen screaming from a top window for help. Everyone ijn that household is missing. The house was carried over 109- yards, then struck another, and wris wrecked. Happy. Marken. once the joy of tourists is one huge wreck. FLOODS ON THE MAINLAND. Whil t > no loss is reported from mainland Hoods, thev are far more extensive, and the financial Joss is enormous. All land in and around the Dead Cities of the Zuider Zee—Edam, Volciidam and Monnikendam—is under the sea. . On Friday the sea dykes broke in several places near Xaarden -and- between Edam and Monnikendam. Millions of tons of water crashed over and through the breaches. The maze oi ditches and canals, ordinarily so still, became as mountain streams 'in spate. Sheep, pigs, goats and cows that could not reach the high dykes were washed away. Few could mark their cattle, and many will never regain their own animals. Safety was their only thought. In little breaks in the stream women could he seen pushing perambulators >vith babes and driving cattle, all making for the higher levels oF Amsterdam. Many farmers first saved their cattle, returning in bijats to save their families. 1 Gradually the water reached the gnarl-. Ed heads of the willows: dead cattle could be seen (lonting everywhere, chickens were perched in irees.'and eats and dkgs on roofs of houses, while vicious, grey-beaked crows were screaming overhead. waiting to swoon down and snatch at the dead animals dotting the surface of the waters that now stretched as far as the eye could see. HEROIC RESCUE WORK. Soldiers made a dasll for many ot the breaches, and , worked heroically to stem the tide, but were as helpless as Canute. The police retrieved cattle in boats. All the churches on trie high land were thrown open to receive cattle. The Queen's Palace at Amsterdam is placed at the disposal of the homeless, and round Amsterdam Tollhouse seventeen hundred, beautiful black and white dappled cows represent part of the salvage. Mile after mile is under water: rich farmers are rendered practically penniless, and laud will take years to recover its old fertility. At places where breaches occurred land was washed out till it was lower than the bed of the sea; and until the breaches are repaired there is no hone of taking off the water. Edam, Monnikendam and Volendam are completely under water.. /The lower houses in the latter place Have water up to the attics, whilst in the low-lving Ruikslootmeer Polder the water is ievel with the china insulators of the telephone poles. It is the worst disaster for manv years, and it will take a generation to retrieve the loss.