FLOODS UNABATED

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 9

FLOODS UNABATED

DAMAGE IN AMERICA

TOWNS EVACUATED

80,000 HOMELESS United Tress Association—By Electric Telegraph—Cowrlsht. (Received January 23, 9.45 a.m.) NEW YORK, January 22. Ten southern and middle-western States have reported heavy flood damage and the estimate of the number homeless has been raised to nearly 80,000, divided as follows:—-Ohio, 50,000; Indiana, 11,000; Tennessee, 4000; West Virginia, 3500; Kentucky, 3000; and Illinois, Arkansas, and Missouri, 4500. No estimates are available from Pennsylvania or Mississippi. The entire populations of Lawrenceburg and Aurora (Indiana) are moving out, and a special relief train is en route from Indianapolis. Three towns in Indiana and five in Kentucky were without electricity after the waters invaded the power plant of Troy, Indiana. Meanwhile, near Portsmouth, a ferry boat sank with 25 people aboard, engaged in rescue work. All leapt into the Scioto River, and swam ashore safely. RISING WATERS PEOPLE TAKE TO BOATS NATIONAL GUARD HELPING NEW YORK, January 22. Estimates of the damage increased hourly as the Ohio River rose three feet in 10 hours, and continued to mount. The loss in Cincinnati alone is now set at 1,000,000 dollars. One man was drowned. The State Government has made all facilities, including National Guardsmen, available for flood relief. Guardsmen, were assigned to duty in the various river communities, and ordered ! swift distribution of cots and supplies among the refugees. Thf city manager of Portsmouth, 100 miles up-stream, ordered the evacuation of all but hilltop districts. The evacuation is expected to affect 13,000 of the town's 43,000 population. There is six feet of water in the streets of Pomeroy. Many residents were forced to evacuate Ironton, New Richmond, Manchester, Rome, and Ripley. Many villages are surrounded by water, and boats are evacuating the i residents, most of whom were forced to abandon their possessions due to the suddenness with which the water trapped them. More rains are forecast in the Ohio Valley. One town in Indiana is reported to be completely submerged, and Illinois and Pennsylvania are also affected. Thousands of people in Kentucky I were forced to take to the hills as the lowlands became flooded. Highways and railway tracks were washed out and a passenger train was derailed I near Slaughters, in Kentucky, injuring nearly a dozen people. Many schools I are closed. All employees of the State highway department and 300 National [Guardsmen have prepared to aid the refugees. A sandbag wall was placed around the north-east corner of Louisville, where the Ohio is rising at a rate of a foot each five hours. The Government meteorologist there said the flood would probably go higher than in 1884, which was the worst in the city's history. Only one main highway entering the city is open. Twelve hundred families have moved from the lowlands. FROSTS AND HEAT } LOS ANGELES, January 22. | Citrus growers battled with the [worst frost in 24 years, with temperatures as low as 16 degrees below zero. San Francisco, with 30 degrees, was colder than Cordova, Alaska, with 36, while the thermometer registered 77 degrees for the first time in 30 years at Mobile, Alabama, where fruit trees and flowers are blooming two months early.