Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1876 — The Terrible Destruction of the Danube Floods. [ARTICLE]

The Terrible Destruction of the Danube Floods.

Fifteen thousand people, who have lost shelter and home, are being fed at public expense, 7,000 at Buda-Pesth alone. Many of them were owners of houses which have been leveled to the ground, or are now tottering to their fall. Hundreds w-ho have been living in easy circumstances are now reduced to extreme helplessness. The same tale is being repeated along the immense stretch of water throughout Hungary. Only last week, wnen the water at Buda-Pesth had become calmer, the town of Mohars, down the river, was half destroyed. The name is marked in the history of Hungary as that of misfortune. There, in the year 1562, the Magyars suffered a crushing"defeat at the hands of the Turks, who consequently ruled over Hungary for nearly 150 years after. The walls, which stood the storms of 600 years, have been swep* away by this flood in one short hour. ; The whole extent of land under water at the present time is about 600 square

miles, including 1,800,000 acres of tilled or arable land, which means ruined harvest hopes, calculated at 8,000,000 florins. As to the loss and damage accruing to the whole country, sixteen to twenty millions will hardly suffice to repair it. Not a sunbeam has been visible for three weeks. The sky is lowering, and long-lasting rains are pouring down at short intervals, as if there were not enough of this liquid element already. In some townships, situate near the banks, the order to illuminate the houses at night is still obeyed, in order that all may be ready for any new emergency, and ttfs feared that the dykes arc loosened by a three weeks’ incessant motion of the waves rippling to tlie top.— Vienna Letter toN. Y. Herald.