"Consternation & Ravages"

Furies of wind, rain, hail, flood and drought last week fell upon the Earth.

Italy. Hail, cannonading upon Castel Gandolfo, Italy, killed 200 pedigreed chickens belonging to Pope Pius XI.

Cuba. Hurricane groped across the Bahama Bank north of Cuba, turned away from Cuba, killed seven in the Bahamas, turned again and struck at Cuba's northern hump. In Havana harbor, huge seas overthrew the Malecon sea wall, scattered stone blocks like spume, flooded the water- front six blocks inland to a depth of six feet. In full force the hurricane hit the port of Cardenas in Matanzas Province, swept a tidal wave over the city, sank a gunboat in the harbor, destroyed docks, warehouses and the railroad station, cut off water and light, killed 30, injured 100. Cardenas' famed museum of early Cuban relics fell. Members of the ABC revolutionary society, police and soldiers went out potting for the storm-spawn of looters, killed five in Havana, making the hurricane's total score more than 80 dead. By destroying enormous crops of sugar cane, blowing down sugar warehouses, it slightly alleviated Cuba's glutted Sugar situation (see p. 22).

Cuba's hurricane whirled away towards Texas.

Mexico. Floods, built up by torrential rains, swept down the San Alejo River in Vera Cruz, engulfed without warning eight women washing clothes on the river bank, seven children playing beside them. Other floods swamped suburbs of Mexico City, made 1,000 homeless, drowned two boys.

Argentina. Drought since last May in several northern provinces, damaging flax and wheat crops by 30%, induced Catholic Bishops to order general prayers for rain.

India. The great Shyok ice dam in Kashmir, which melts so slowly through spring and summer that it backs up a great lake behind it each year, broke, sent a great flood lolloping down the valley of the Indus River.

China. Sixteen typhoons have struck at Shanghai during the past summer. All have missed. Last week, as the rain-flooded Whangpoo River overflowed into Shanghai's business district, a 17tth typhoon approached to within 40 mi. of the city, then turned northwest. Toward nightfall, the typhoon changed its direction, aimed for Shanghai. Blowing with cyclonic force, it piled up mountainous seas at the mouths of the Yangtze and Whangpoo Rivers, sent a four-foot torrent flowing through the heart of Shanghai. The waters islanded the National City and Chase National Banks and most of the big downtown hotels. Having done several millions of dollars worth of damage, the 17th typhoon wandered northward after midnight.

While the Yellow River subsided slowly last week, leaving more than 3,000,000 Chinese homeless, 18 country magistrates in Western Shantung Province sent a remarkable petition to the Nanking Government :

"Rumors have been set afloat to the effect that bandits were responsible for the collapse of dikes, but meantime Liu Shih. the Civil Governor of Honan [province] has openly dispatched a brigade of troops to the Lanfeng district.

"Under the pretext of safeguarding the province, he ordered his men to cut the dikes at Lanfeng and the result was a gruesome inundation extending over Western Shantung The people are now in the midst of consternation and ravages.

''It is a most curious incident in history for a high official to employ his soldiers in cutting dikes to make a neighboring State inundated, thus rendering the slaughter of people an amusing pastime."

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