Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1875 — The Great Flood in France. [ARTICLE]

The Great Flood in France.

From Toulouse a graphic description is forwarded to the Debats of the aspect of that city when the inundation was at its height. The inhabitants assembled on the quays and on the stone bridge and looked helplessly on the scene of desolation and followed with terrified eyes the work of destruction. Property of all sorts was being Swept away by the angry waves; piles of timber, casks, cattle ana heavy planks were hurled in their flight against the piers of the bridge. Half an hour after the precaution had been taken to close the bridge of St. Pierre it gave way with a crash and it was quickly followed by the baths Raynaud and the large public warehouses of Tournay and St. Pierre. At last, as if all the elements were combining against the unfortunate town, the large rolling mills of Bezacle were discovered to be in flames, while another Are broke out at the Port Garaud in a house that was entirely cut off from any chance of succor. The manufactories of Bazacle and in the Rue des Amidonniers were abandoned on the water rushing into them and were of course greatly damaged. Two houses fell at the Port Garaud, and it is believed that two women are buried in the ruins. On the Quai de Tonnis the rise of the water was so rapid that many families could only be rescued by means of the windows. The tugboat stationed at St. Pierre was carried away by the force of the torrent and was capsized. Four or five persons were on board at the time, and as the vessel was borne away they uttered cries of despair. Their fate is as yet unknown. Among many tragical occurrences the following shows prominently: A messenger from the Church of Sept Deniers arrived at the artillery barracks and asked for volunteers to save four persons imprisoned in a house surrounded by water. Three men at once departed in two boats, accompanied by three sailors. They rowed over the inundated corn-fields between the Garonne and the canal until they arrived opposite the above-named church. There the first boat, manned bv two sailors and one artilleryman, was suddenly seized by the current, becanie unmanageable and was driven away toward the Garonne at a furious rate. The occupants of the other boat were just enabled to escape the current, and were thus preserved from an almost certain death. As to the persons shut up in the house it was found impossible to rescue them,, and fears were entertained that owing to the force of the water the building might succumb at any moment. Although we have the fullest accounts from Toulbuse it must not be imagined that the ravages of the disaster were confined to that city. On the contrary, terrible accounts’pour in from the surrounding districts, the floods having extended over a vast space of the country. From L’Ariege terrible news continues to arrive. At Verdun it is stated that fifty houses are destroyed, eighty unfortunate persons buried in the ruins, with about 500 head of cattle. Thirty-four corpses have been, recovered and buried after identification. The villages of Labastide and Besplas have been entirely engulfed. From the Tarn-et-Garonne the news is also disastrous. The Garonne and the Tarn have been very destructive in their course, and the overflow was so rapid that in many places the inhabitants were unable to carry anything away. A large number of families are homeless, and many animals have perished. At Gers and Manssebe- many houses have been washed down or have suffered In the tow ns and Villages of the BassesPyrenees there has been great destruction.

Bridgeshave been carried away; houses have been inundated and greatly injured; the crops have been partially destroyed in some districts; several animals nave been drowned and at Jaut a shepherd lost his life. A correspondent of the Soir telegraphs from Agen that the bodies of a number of cattle have been found in the fields; that mourning and ruin are everywhere; that the exchange and markets are shut, and that the. theaters are opened only for representations for the benefit of the victims. After Marshal MacMahon had inspected the scene of desolation last Sunday the public were allowed to visit the principal streets of the Faubourg St. Cyprien, and relative to this the correspondent of tlie Paris Figtiro , M. Gaston Vassy, contributes to the pages of that journal the following further details concerning the great catastrophe: “ Every moment bodies are being found for the most part horribly mutilated, some having to be literally pulled out piece by piece from the rubbish by which they haa been buried. Houses still continue to fall, and an unfortunate soldier has just been crushed by one. The hand is powerless to describe by the means of the pen the aspect of tliis desolated faubourg. At each step a heap of ruins marks what a short time ago had been a happy home. Furniture, linen and property of every description is mingled in inextricable" confusion w ith the bodies of men, women, children; and domestic animals crushed out of shape. At the locality known as the Place de Lomenie the state of the railing which incloses the office for the collection of the town dues may give one an idea of the fury of the water, the doors having been beaten in and tlie iron bars actually tw’isted. In tlie avenue of the ‘ Patte <r Oie’ tlie trees are thrown to the ground, the gas-lamps are torn up, and the work of destruction has been thoroughly done upon the right hand as w’ell as upon the. left of whoever strolls along the spot. It is worthy of remark, however, that'the only walls w’hich have resisted the enormous pressure of the floods are those built long ago, and the old fortifications are comparatively uninjured. The Rue de Tournefeuille may be pronounced to have been utterly blotted out —it no longer exists —and the ‘ Allee de la Republique’ has suffered even more than the avenue of the ‘ Patte de_Qie;’ there trees, posts and gaslamps cover the ground thickly, and the soil itself is most deeply torn up by the dashing stream which coursed over it. In every disaster one comic incident, at the least, usually presents itself, and a curious instance of this has just been related to me. Some soldiers passing by some ruins in the Allee Bonaparte heard faint cries of ‘ Papa. ’ To track the sounds and discover the locality from which’ they proceeded was but the w’ork of a moment —to rescue tire entombed victim was that of some hours. It was rather disappointing to the gallant fellows, after all their exertion and toil, to find that, although their labors had not been in vain, they had only rescued a fine gray parrot from an untimely end.”— London Telegraph