England and Holland
Warned of New Gales
As Flood Toll Rises
By the Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, the Nether
lands, Feb. 4.—-Warnings of new
gales and high tides flashed
fresh danger to battered Britain
and Holland today as an inter
national armada of planes and
boats braved waves and near-
freezing weather to rescue sur
vivors of the continent's most
frightful flood disaster since
medieval times.
The unofficial death toll topped
1,600including 1,053 in Holland^
but the Amsterdam newspaper
Het Vrije Volk indicated today
that more than 2,000 persons
may have lost their lives in the
Netherlands alone.
As thousands of workers raced
against time to shore up shat
tered sea defenses in Britain
and the Netherlands, some 2.000
vessels and more than 125
planes rushed the evacuation of
thousands numbed by cold and
suffering from three days of ex
posure in isolated villages
throughout stricken Southwest
Holland. :r\
IsiarcVKd' i s Heavy.
Het Vrij,. Vöhr said that the
death toll on the Zeeland island
of Schouwgn-Duiveland alone
may be nearly l.ÖOff. It Cföatëd
the burgomaster of Zierikzee as
saying between 300 and 400 per
sons drowned in the town of
Nieuwerkerk, on that island.
The new gale warning was an
nounced for the North Sea area.
Accompanying the grim forecast
was a British Air Ministry pre
diction that strong winds de
veloping farther south during
the day will "tend to heighten
the tides on the east coast."
Already a biting wind was
whipping up the sea again along
England's Norfolk coasthit
hard by the rushing waters which
high tides and hurircane winds
sent pouring over the land Sun
day.
The raging waters subsided
somewhat in Britain and Bel
gium but a thousand so.uare
miles of Hollandhardest hit of
the three countriesremained
buried under a blanket of dead
ening salt water.
Damage in Millions.
Damage was reckoned in un-
calculated millions of dollars. In
Britain more than, 400 square
miles were flooded. In Brussels,
newspaper estimates placed Bel
gian losses in the neighborhood
of $20 million.
The final death toll in the dis
aster may exceed 2,000. The latest
count from official'and the best
available unofficial sources was:
Holland, 1,053.
England, 377.
Lost in ships at sea, 169.
Belgium, 14.
Total, 1,613.
An estimated 80,000 persons
were homeless, 30,000 in Britain
and 50,000 in Holland. Thou
sands were believed still missing
in the two countries.
Search Still to Be Made.
But the final accounting will
not be known for several weeks
until the last search of sub
merged homes has been made,
all death lists checked and until
exposure injuries and disease
have completed their toll.
Along with the desperate race
to save persons still trapped in
trees, attics, on dikes and other
surrounded high places, workers
faced the task of rebuilding dikes
against the threat of coming
high: spring tides that might
again force waters far inland.
But help and offers of aid
have poured into the stricken
countries from all over the
world, along with messages of
deepest sympathy.
New flood threats developed
last night in both Britian and
Holland. A new break in the
dikes was reported at Rommel
on the North Coast of the twin
Dutch islands of Goeree-Over-
flakke. Seas roared inland
through a hole 35 yards wide and
five yards deep. Rommel has a
population of 2,000.
In Britain, the Ouse River
broke its banks in East Anglia.
Homes in Watlington and St.
Germans were evacuated and
fears were expressed that the city
of Kings Lynn might be cut off.
Many British towns reported that
flooded sewers threatened a seri
ous outbreak of disease.
A vast rescue force, including
ships, planes and men of the
United States, British, French
and Canadian armed services
moved swiftly to answer frantic
pleas of b Tp friöffi flooded Dutch
commuKuji'
Rescue si.- were concen
trated on the hardest-hit areas
of Schoutven-Diveland and Tho-
len Islands in Zealand and Foe-
ree-Overflakkee.
A hastily-organized airlift
parachuted tons of food and
blankets and other supplies to
isolated areas. Fifteen Ameri
can and British helicopters are
being used to carry medicines
and more of the windmilling
craft were expected to arrive to
day.
Boats Mass for Rescue.
A motley armada of fishi: A
boats, Royal Dutch Navy min.
sweepers and patrol vessels and
private craft of all description$'l
converged on Zierikzee, a har- i
bor town on Schouwen-Duive-
land, to pick off people marooned
in that area.
Queen Juliana, who has vis
ited much of the flooded area
the past two days, met her hus
band, Prince Bernhard, early
today at Amsterdam's airport.
The Prince interrupted a visit
to the United States, hurrying
home to take an active part in
rescue operations.
Amid all the trouble ashore,
hope was given up yesterday for
the 1,331-ton Swedish steamer
Aspo and her crew of 22. The
vessel vanished without a trace
after sending an SOS from 125
miles off the Danish coast.
The waters were receding
throughout most of the flooded
areas of Britain. But 1,500 fire
men moved in with 350 pumping
machines in an effort to speed
the clearing operation.
British Proclaim Emergency.
At Whitstable, in North Kent,
last night 56 pumperseach with
a capacity of 500 gallons per
minutewere able to clear only
two square miles.
The British government has
declared the disaster a national
responsibility, ordering troops
and Home Guardsmen to aid
in the rescue work. In London,
the Lord Mayor's National Flood
and Tempestf Fund officially
opened with a gift of 10,000
pounds ($28,000) from an anony
mous donor on the Isle of Jer
sey.
Police disclosed that the Brit
ish death toll may prove lower j
than has been feared. They re-
ported a mixup in the listing of
dead and missing on Canvey
Island, in the Thames estuary 25
miles from London. Ftevious i
reports had said that at least 130
persons died on Canvey, but i
police said this figure may be cut
to as low as 30.
Seas Penetrate 40 Miles.
A staggering reconstruction
task confronts Holland, whose
dikes were broken in many places
by a sea that surged as far as
40 miles inland.
Clarence Hunter, United States
Mutual Security chief in Hol
land, said rebuilding of the dikes
and destroyed houses will cost
hundreds of millions of dollars
and will be the work of years.
In all, the waters inundated
about a sixth of the little nation
which only a. week ago an
nounced it had regained its
financial feet after the burdens
of World War II sufficiently to
get along without American
economic aid.
Belgium was virtually free of
flood waters. A government
spokesman said that only a few
meadows and part of the fisher
man's quarter in Oostende har
bor were still flooded.
The Belgian Ministry of In
terior scaled down the country's
total of known dead from 22 to
14 today. A ministry spokes
man said also that five persons
were still missing.
