Terrible Flood Havoc in Roumania: Thousands of Jewish Families Reported Homeless in Jewish : Refugee

Terrible floods are sweeping over Roumania, and in Bukovina, Moldavia, Bessarabia, and Transylvania many of the Jewish townships and the Jewish quarters in the city are under water, with thousands of Jewish families and others rendered homeless.

In Soroca, in Bessarabia, there are over a thousand houses under water, about three-quarters of the town being submerged. Some of the principal buildings, including the Artisans’School, the Lyceum and the High School for Girls, have collapsed. There are four dead and many injured. The water is about five metres high. The population have taken refuge in the hilly districts outside the town where they are spending the night in the open. Furniture and the stocks left in the shops are floating on the water. Boats are out taking of f the inhabitants who are still in their houses. The entire town is in danger of being swept away.

In Kishineff, the capital of Bessarabia, there are terrible flood scenes. About 100 houses are under water. The fire brigades are out, rescuing the inhabitants. Many houses are collapsing, and many families are homeless. Women and children are being evacuated by way of the roofs.

The town of Bender is completely submerged. In Belce, the entire lower part of the town is flooded, and the fire brigade is working incessantly trying to pump out the water.

In Transylvania many villages are submerged, and the population is fleeing panic-stricken to the mountains. The floods are most serious in the districts of Marmorosz and in the Bukovina. There is havoc in the Jewish towns of Wiznitz and Washkeutz, in the Bukovina.

The Jewish quarter of Jassy and the outlying parts of the city are under water.

About 800 families are homeless in Jassy. The fire brigade and the 13th. Regiment are doing rescue work.

In Cluj the factory district has suffered severely from the floods, and the Poale Zedek Synagogue in the centre of the town is submerged.

Alarming reports of floods are arriving here from all parts of the country. The Government has decided to assign a new credit fund of several million lei for the relief of the flood victims. The military has been ordered everywhere to take an active part in the rescue work, and to build dams wherever possible. Railway communication in many parts of the country has been stopped because of the floods, and many of the roads also are submerged so that a great many places are isolated.