Flood

In the hills above Kobe, Japan's fifth largest city (pop. 938,200), is the twelve-year-old, $3,471,600 gigantic Kita-machi Reservoir. On the southern part of the main Japanese Island of Honchu, on which are located Japan's chief cities, fell last week exceptionally heavy rains. Heaviest rainfall was in the highly industrialized area of Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto. One morning the Kita-machi Reservoir broke. A torrent swept down the city. Landslides slid into East Kobe's residential sections, threatened even neighboring Osaka. Kobe's Broadway, the Motomachi, was flooded with ten feet of water. In Kobe's main railway station water was five feet deep. The city's prison walls crumbled and 900 prisoners had to be moved. Toll: 311 dead. 400 missing, 60,000 homes flooded, $30,000,000 damage.

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