4 New Dike Breaks
Add to Holland Peril;
Deaths Reach 1,880
By the Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, The Nether-
lands, Feb. 5.Four new breaks
In the dike system of Schouwen-
Duiveland Island, In Southwest
Holland's disaster area, poised
new peril today for thousands
of homeless stranded there.
The death toll in Holland
reached 1,320 today. This
brought the total in the Low
Countries and Britain to 1,880. i
As fleets of rescue boats and
small planes rushed to the scene
of the new breaks through rough
waters and sleet and snow, a new
storm bore down on the flood-
battered Dutch coast.
Another major rescue effort
also was underway on stricken
Goeree-Overflakkee Island,
where some 1,500 persons were
marooned on a crumbling dike.
5,000 Not Accounted For.
Schouwen - Duiveland already
was four-fifths under water and
some 5,000 of the island's 23,000
residents were not accounted for
many of them undoubtedly
dead in their farmhouses.
High winds bearing down from
the water-logged east coast of
England threatened to hurl tow
ering waves against the little
kingdom's breached sea defenses
on the fifth day of the Dutch
"battle of the dikes." Weather
forecasts chilled hopes with pre
dictions that more snow and hail
would accompany the storm.
The small army of workers
toiling in the disaster area to re
move thousands of stranded
homeless to safety had won at
least a brief respite when the
morning high tide came and
went before the new storm could
reach the coast.
The sea's rising challenge
threatened new havoc to rav
aged Holland, Britain and Bel
gium.
The revised three-nation toll
thus far, as compiled from of
ficial and reliable unofficial
sources, mounted to 1,880. Hol
land counted 1,320, England 546
and Belgium 14.
Tides Break Dikes.
Across the North Sea in east-
em England, gale-whipped seas
gave Dutchmen a preview of
their new peril when high tides
broke through hastily-patched
dikes along the Lincolnshire
coast and spread again through
the empty streets of Mable-
thorpc and Sutton. These two
towns were evacuated after the
week-end storm.
Dutch officials ordered the
hastily assembled armada of
light craft to gather with ut
most speed off the threatened
Goeree-Overflakkee dike, where
refugees from the twin towns of
Nieuwe Tonge and Oude Tonge
were stranded. Dutch army
searchlight units were rushed to
the scene so the rescue work
could begin before daylight.
Strong ocean currents ham
pered efforts to .seal leaks in
dikes. In spots, currents were
sweeping sandbags aside almost
as soon as they were pushed in
place.
In Britain, too, civilian volun
teers and members of the armed
forces worked far into the night
to strengthen dikes, particularly
on the "death island" of Caveny
in the Thames Estuary.
Some 3,000 residents of the is
land, where at least 46 have al
ready perished and 1.000 been
forced to flee to the mainland,
s escaped further disaster today
when the morning tide failed to
break through the sea wall again.
Ridgway Visits The Hague.
Near Kings Lynn, on the Lin
colnshire coast, a barge carrying
30 Royal Air Force officers and
men was swept through a 40-foot
breach in the bank of the flooded
River Ouse. The airmen, who
were helping sandbag the protec
tive walls, were rescued from
their stranded barge by rowboat.
Gales raged on the North Sea
but along the English coast the
highest wind velocity reported
last night was 38 miles per hour.
Rain or snow with fresh winds
up to 25 miles an hom- were pre
dicted for the East Coast today.
In Holland, rescue, workers
cheered today at the news that
United States Gen. Matthew B.
Ridgway, Atlantic pact com
mander in Europe, was enroute
to the disaster scene with a
promise of as much further aid
as needed.
Gen. Ridgway landed at the
airport near Amsterdam just be
fore noon and motored direct to
The Hague to confer with Amer
ican and Dutch officials.
He said he had flown over
some of the disaster areas en
route, and would make a further
survey later in the day.
The Dutch Red Cross an
nounced that it had already re
ceived sufficient donations of
clothing to supply flood refugees
and that no more would be
needed. It added, however, that
there still was a great need for
blankets and mattresses.
