HEAVY DEATH-ROLL

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 7, 3 October 1927, Page 3

HEAVY DEATH-ROLL

THE ST. LOUIS CYCLONE MANY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HOMELESS x FOOD STATIONS ESTABLISHED It is feared that the death, roll in the cyclone which swept the city of St. Louis may reach 150. The injured are estimated to number 150, and the property damage at Between 80,000,000 and 100,000,000 dob lars. Br Telegraph.—puess association. Copyright. St. Louis, September 30. The bodies of eighty victims of the cyclone which swept the residential district of St. Louis have now been recovered. Many others are believed to be buried tvnder the debris, and it is feared that the final death-list may reach 150. The injured are estimated at between 1000 and 1500, of whom the condition of-300 is serious. The property damage is tentatively placed at between‘ eighty and a hundred million dollars. The Federal Government has dispatched a thousand regular troops to the scene of the disaster. The police and National Guardsmen are also mustered, with orders to shoot to kill anyone caught looting. Food stations, using War Department supplies, have been set up in the stricken districts. Preparations are being made for taking care of an estimated number of 25,000 homeless.

Most pitiful scenes occurred in the negro section, where flimsy frame houses crashed like cardboard boxes. The toll of killed and injured in this area was especially high. Entire sections of brick apartment buildings in the better residential districts were blown down and structures uprooted. One residential street, noted for its stately elms, now has the appearance of a carelessly-lumbered forest, trees being snapped off and torn apart by the wind. The police state that the greatest difficulty in handling the situation is in keeping sightseers out of the stricken areas, a thousand of whom flocked to the scene of the disaster. The hotels are crowded with homeless victims. (Rec. October 2, 5.5 p.m.) New York, September 30. A St. Louis message states that the total of the deaths is now ninetyeight. BRITAIN SWEPT BY GALE « CROPS BADLY DAMAGED Rugby, September 30. An equinoctial gale has swept Britain, and storms, accompanied in places bv 'cloudbursts, and resulting in renewed floods, are reported from all parts of the country. In many places the crops are already badly rotted, and practically ruined.. Thousands of head of poultry have been drowned. Many roads have been submerged, and traffic, including a number of motorbus services, has been interrupted. The railway near Carlisle was temporarily blocked owing to a slight landslide caused by rain. Many vessels were forced into harbour for shelter. Heavy seas broke over the promenades of the South Coast seaside resorts.—British Official Wireless.