286 SPIUNGS, mvEKs, CANALS, LAKES, 



which last the following is the account contained in the London 

 Gazette. 



l( Groningeu, Nov. 26. On Friday the 22d instant, it blew the 

 whole day a most violent storm from the S. E.; towards night the 

 wind changed to the W. then to the N. W. afterwards to the N. E. 

 and back again to the N. W. The weather continued thus tem- 

 pestuous all night, accompanied with thunder and lightning ; the 

 chimneys and roofs of a great many houses were blown down, and 

 much more mischief was done, but it was not comparable to that 

 which followed ; for the dvkes not being able to resist the violence 



V 



of the sea, agitated by these terrible storms, the whole country 

 between this and the Delfziel, being about eighteen English miles, 

 was the next morning overwhelmed with water, which ii: many 

 places were eight foot higher than the very dykes, and many people 

 and thousands of cattle were drowned, the water breaking even 

 through the walls of the town of Delrziel, to that height that the 

 inhabitants were forced to betake themselves to their garrets and 

 upper rooms for shelter. The whole village of Oterdam is in a 

 manner swept away. At Termunderzyl, there is not one house 

 left, above three hundred people being drowned there, aud only 

 nineteen escaping. Hereskes, Weywert, Woldendorp, and all the 

 villages near the Eems, have suffered extremely. The Western 

 quarter has likewise had its share in this calamity, and the highest 

 lands have not escaped. On Sunday and yesterday it reached this 

 city ; the lower parts whereof are now all under water. From the 

 walls of this city we can see nothing but the tops of houses and 

 steeples that remain above water. In a word; the misery and de. 

 solation is greater than can be expressed. 



" It's impossible to describe the present sad condition of this 

 province, occasioned by a most terrible inundation that happened 

 the 22d instant ; the like has not been known these hundred years. 

 The whole province, except the higher parts of this city, lies under 

 water; whole villages have been swept away, and a great many 

 people, with abundance of cattle, drowned ; and those that have 

 escaped, sheltering themselves in garrets and upper rooms, are in 

 great distress for want of relief: nothing but lamentation-:, and 

 the jangling of bells fgr help, is heard through the whole country; 

 and though all possible care is taken to assist them from hence, 



