DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70300#0185
DREADFUL INUNDATION.
357
DREADFUL INUNDATION.
JWarienburg (Eastern Prussia,) April 3, 1816.
i( Our unhappy country had just begun to recover from
the miseries inflicted, by the late war, when a calamity as
terrible as it was unexpected, has plunged our citizens and
farmers into the greatest distress. The winter here, com-
pared with preceding ones, was of moderate severity; and
the signal of its departure, which is the breaking up of
the ice of the Vistula, was looked to with pleasure, as renew-
ing the busy scenes incident to an inland port. Marienburg,
you are aware, possesses considerable trade, on account of
its being situated upon the right bank of the Vistula, which
is navigable to a great extent.
“ On the 18th of March last, the frost broke, and the
weather became extremely mild, and continued so till the
morning of the 20th, when the ice on the Vistula broke up.
This event was unattended by any circumstance to excite
immediate alarm ; but next day, the wind rose, and impelled
the floating ice in the direction of the dykes. These were
thought sufficiently strong to resist any danger; and possibly
they might, had not the wind continued so long and so
violent, that an immense quantity of these masses became
accumulated, and defied all attempts to remove them. The
consequences proved terrible. A few minutes after seven,
the first dyke was cut, and the breach being seventy rods
broad, and twenty rods deep (English measure,) an immense
body of water, rushed like a torrent over the adjoining
country. Horses, barns, cattle, in short, every thing was
swept before the flood. The screams of human beings, and
the bleating of cattle were intermingled, and heard for many-
miles. Darkness added to the horror of the scene. Of the
families and individuals who, quitting their residence, at-
tempted to escape the danger, the greater part perished in
the inundation. The bodies of many of these have been
picked up. Those who remained within doors, and escaped
357
DREADFUL INUNDATION.
JWarienburg (Eastern Prussia,) April 3, 1816.
i( Our unhappy country had just begun to recover from
the miseries inflicted, by the late war, when a calamity as
terrible as it was unexpected, has plunged our citizens and
farmers into the greatest distress. The winter here, com-
pared with preceding ones, was of moderate severity; and
the signal of its departure, which is the breaking up of
the ice of the Vistula, was looked to with pleasure, as renew-
ing the busy scenes incident to an inland port. Marienburg,
you are aware, possesses considerable trade, on account of
its being situated upon the right bank of the Vistula, which
is navigable to a great extent.
“ On the 18th of March last, the frost broke, and the
weather became extremely mild, and continued so till the
morning of the 20th, when the ice on the Vistula broke up.
This event was unattended by any circumstance to excite
immediate alarm ; but next day, the wind rose, and impelled
the floating ice in the direction of the dykes. These were
thought sufficiently strong to resist any danger; and possibly
they might, had not the wind continued so long and so
violent, that an immense quantity of these masses became
accumulated, and defied all attempts to remove them. The
consequences proved terrible. A few minutes after seven,
the first dyke was cut, and the breach being seventy rods
broad, and twenty rods deep (English measure,) an immense
body of water, rushed like a torrent over the adjoining
country. Horses, barns, cattle, in short, every thing was
swept before the flood. The screams of human beings, and
the bleating of cattle were intermingled, and heard for many-
miles. Darkness added to the horror of the scene. Of the
families and individuals who, quitting their residence, at-
tempted to escape the danger, the greater part perished in
the inundation. The bodies of many of these have been
picked up. Those who remained within doors, and escaped