Rain at Smyrna

THE telegraph has informed us of a heavy fall of rain at Smyrna on Wednesday, November 25, but few particulars have yet reached us, except some from Capt. Stabb, Corr. Mem. Soc. of Arts. The storm began at six in the morning, and in a few hours 6 inches were registered. When the quay, or embankment, was proposed some years ago, in conjunction with the Council of Public Works I endeavoured to provide an efficient outfall sewer underneath it, but we were defeated by local intrigue. The drainage of Smyrna is worse than in the time of Strabo, by the large additions taken in from the shelving bay. The torrents pouring down from Mount Pagus (the Castle Hill) came through the Turkish quarter, causing the fall of some twenty houses, and washing bodies out of the Turkish and Jewish graveyards. On reaching the lower streets the sewers ceased to act, and cellars, stores, and warehouses were flooded, causing a loss of 50,000l. worth of opium, cotton, valonia, and other merchandise, and much damage to private houses. The River Meles overflowed its shallow bed, and reached the Point Rail. way Station, destroying some market gardens. In the suburb of Bournabat two houses were brought down, and the Cassuba railway embankment was damaged. The storm seems not to have reached beyond Manisa (Magnesia ad Sipylum), over Mount Sipylus, on one side, and Turbalu, beyond the Smyrna plain, on the other. No such inundation has taken place within memory.