The Floods in France The floods in South-Western France have
devastated the greater part of eight Departments. When we write, the waters have not yet spent their fury. So far, the lives lost number some four hundred, and ten thousand people are homeless. The latest messages report damage to the amount of hundreds of millions of francs. The French people have the sympathy of the world in their affliction. A message of condolence has been sent by the King. The French authorities have promptly organized relief measures. The danger to communi- cations is considerable, and an epidemic of typhoid fever is feared. The towns of Montauban and Moissac are almost in ruins. The cause of the floods was incessant rain falling over an area which is a network of rivers, draining mountainous country. Exceptionally mild weather at the same time caused the melting of the snow in the hills. The country is all the more exposed to such a disaster by the cutting down of the forests. Some remarkable Press photographs enable us vividly to see the effect produced on such a vast denuded land.
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