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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 17TM FEBRUARY, 1883. 109

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.-No. 60.

ITALY.

The following reports on the recent inundations in North Italy are published for general information.

By Command,

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 17th February, 1883.

FREDERICK STEWART,

Acting Colonial Secretary.

My Lord,

REPORTS ON INUNDATIONS IN NORTHERN ITALY.

No. 1.

Consul-General Colnaghi to Earl Granville.—(Received October 23.)

Florence, October 20, 1882.

It is impossible, at the present time, to estimate the damage done to the Venetian provinces by the recent inundations, some idea of the extent of which may be derived from the statement that two- thirds of Venetia are, or have been, under water.

During the first ten days of the month of September the weather was fine, with occasional refresh- ing rain. The official reports of the state of the country, including the provinces which were shortly to be so heavily tried, were satisfactory, the vintage promised well, and it was thought that the year 1882, if not among the most fortunate, might fairly be considered as good.

In the second decade of the month, however, a change came; there was a heavy and continuous rainfall, the amount of which, for Venetia and the Lombard Provinces of Brescia and Mantua, is noted below:-

Vicenza Belluno

Udine

Treviso

Padua

Rovigo..

Mantua

Brescia

Number of Days' Rain.

Rainfall

in Millimetres.

10

312.7

9

395

10

191.9

10

219.3

10

113.6

127.5

136-7

121.8

On the 13th and 14th September snow fell on the St. Gothard and on the mountains about Lugano, Castasegna, Santis, Domodossola, &c. The average temperature in North Italy was between 14 and 18 degrees centigrade.

From the data obtained as to the quantity of rain on the North-eastern Alps, where the greatest fall occurred, the height of water may be estimated at 500 millim., equal to 1 cubic metre of water for every 2 square metres of superficial area. If to this be added the snow, which, rapidly melting under the influence of the prevailing southern currents, would have been alone sufficient on some points, especially in the absence of forests on the mountains, to produce floods, it is not astonishing that the inundations were of almost unexampled severity, exceeding those which occurred on previous occasions during the present century, particularly in 1801, 1823, 1868, 1872, and 1879. The present floods are said to bear the greatest resemblance to those of 1801.

The Adige began to rise on the 15th September; by the 17th the city of Verona was, in great part, under water. The Venetian plains are covered with a network of rivers, torrents, and canals, in almost every instance raised above the level of the plain, which is protected from ordinary floods by embankments ("argini ") between which the waters flow. These embankments, for some of the prin- cipal rivers, rise to the average height of 6 metres above the river-bed, though at certain points they are much higher, and are from 15 to 20 metres thick. The sudden rush of water from the hills proved too much for the works of defence; the embankments of the Adige were broken down in four separate places; elsewhere the rivers, torrents, and canals overflowed their banks, while in certain cases the dykes had to be cut, to avoid the more terrible consequences of the sudden inroad of an over- whelming body of water; railway and other communication was interrupted; bridges, houses, crops, and doubtless cattle, with, in happily but few instances, human beings, were swept away in helpless con- fusion; while the unhappy peasantry, in thousands, sought shelter on the embankments, or fled to the neighbouring towns and villages which still held their heads above water. The distress occasioned by

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