AN AMERICAN HORROR.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 147, 22 June 1889, Page 5

AN AMERICAN HORROR.

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOODS.

JOHNSTOWN AND OTHER

TOWNS SUBMERGED.

HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DROWNED,

HOUSES AND BRIDGES SWEPT AWAY.

Johnstown (Pa.) was on the 51st ult. visited by the worst flood ever experienced. The Pennsylvania Railroad is blockaded on account of "the water on the -.track, and 100 houses are inundated, and people are being removed from the second-storey windows.

Conemaugh River has swept away thousands of dollars' worth of property. This stream has it. source in "the mountains, ■where there was a water-spout on the morning of the 31st. A telegram from New F.orence states that the "water is twenty-thr.e feet above low-water mark, and almost every bridge en the river has been swept away. An artificial lake three miles >ove this place, covering an area of one square mile, with an average depth of twenty feet, burst and the great body of water poured into the raging Conemaugh. Several hundred psople°would have been drowned had not people given the alarm and the inhabitants in the lowlands left home. AWFUL SIGHTS. Pitts-urg, May 31. Houses are seen going down the river by the dozen, with people clinging to thenroofs. Ad Coke-town, a village of several hundred inhabitants, the houses are almost submerged. The same is true of many dwellings at Blairsville. Scarce a dwelling near Sang Hollow can be seen. The.bndges ab Bolivar and Nineveh have been swept away. A boy was rescued by men in the Signal tower of the railway company. He said thab with his father, mother, brother and two sisters ab Sang Hollow he was swept away in a light frame house which was their home. He was washed away from the building. He said the other members of the family were in it when it was swept over the breast of the new stone railroad bridge ab Johnstown. It capsized a few seconds later, and all were drowned. The railroad operators officially reported thab before dark they were able to co.int 119 persons clinging to buildings or wreckage, or drowned and floating in the current. iFthis is true the damage in the town must amount to complete destruction. From all that can be learned, as all telegraph lines around Johnstown are down, the reservoir af the dam on the South Fork above town broke, the banks of which had been overflowed by the heavy rains, and an immense volume of water rushed down upon the city, sweeping everything before it and leaving death and destruction in its wake. Late to-night reports from the vicinity of Johnstown say at least live hundred people have been drowned. The loss of life may be even greater. The people of Johnstown had been warned of the "impending floods early this afternoon, but no person living near the reservoir knew the dam had given way until the great flood swept the houses oil' their foundations, tore the timbers apart, and escape from the torrent was impossible. Later despatches indicate thab the ter-n-pest covers a far wider range than at first indicated. It raged with terrific violence throughout Indiana, Cambria, Westmoreland, Blair, Huntington, Muffin, Juniata, rand Perry counties, carrying away telegraph wires, flooding and washing out railroads and converting mountain streams into raging resistless torrents, and carrying death and devastation along their path. The Little Juniata, Frankstown Branch and Juniata rivers for a great part of the year are mere brooks, but are now over thirty feet deep. All the railroads and waggon bridges as far as heard from are swept down and counbless houses swept away. Widespread suffering and privation is certain to follow. The loss of human lives and property is beyond present computation. * STILL RAINING.

Tyrone (Pa.), May 31. The Juniata River has overflown and flooded the entire southern portion of the city, causing great destruction to property. The Susquehanna is overflowed at Clearfield, and the entire place is under > er. All means of escape are cut off and many people are gathered in the court-house and opera houses as places of safety. It is still raining hard and the water is rising xapidly. HARPJSBURG FLOODED. Harrisburg, May 31. Since this morning nearly five inches of rain has fallen in this vicinity, causing a flood of dangerous proportions. Many houses in the lower parts of the city are partially submerged and the occupants are compelled to vacate, boats being used to rescue them. Paxton Creek, a small stream, has expanded into a mighty river, threatening much damage. A large portion of Steelton, two miles east of here, is under water. CROPS RUINED. Piedmont (W. Va.), May 31.

The destruction by flood in this vicinity Is terrible. The loss will reach $250,000, and many greatly exceed that. Crops are ruined everywhere, and houses, barns, fences and lumber are swept away. In one case a loss of life is reported. The victim was a child.