DISASTROUS FLOODS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 20, 25 January 1937, Page 9

DISASTROUS FLOODS

AMERICA'S ORDEAL 300,000 HOMELESS DANGER OF DISEASE DAMAGE REACHES MANY MILLIONS United Press Association —By Elcctric Telegraph—Copyright. CHICAGO, January 24. At least 23 people are dead and 300,000 homeless in the inundated 12 States, where the damage to property lias reached uncounted millions. President Roosevelt issued a proclamation calling the nation to support the Red Cross 2,000,000-dollar drive to assist the sufferers. In one little town alone it is reported there are 50 pneumonia cases. Cincinnati is the worst sufferer. A seventh of the city's area is underwater. A crisis is due tomorrow, for if lite water reaches 74ft it will cut off the drinking water, gas, and electrioity of 700,000 people. Portsmouth is the next greatest sufferer. Influenza cases, of which thera were 200 today, are straining the capacity of the four hospitals to the limit. States washed by the flood are Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In Arkansas alone the damage is estimated at 13,000,000 dollars. The State Reformatory at Frankfort, Kentucky, has been flooded, heatless, and lightless for 24 hours, and the evacuation of the 2900 men and women prisoners has begun. Twenty-four prisoners attempted to escape by swimming the icy water of the Kentucky River. The fugitives returned, save one, as the water was too much for them. Conditions in the prison are described as horrible. Freezing weather in Pittsburgh halted the rise of the city's three rivers, saving hundreds of properties. West Virginia reports that Wheeling Island is inundated and 10,000 inhabitants are preparing to leave. A third of the area of Louisville, Kentucky, is flooded. Six towns in Indiana are isolated, and a 250-mile square lake of muddy water is lying over the southern portion of the State. Three citics in Tennessee are inundated and lack boats to carry supplies. Thg Governor has placed the city of Aurora, Indiana, under martial law in an effort to end the looting. In scores of homes the people were driven out by the flood. Dayton, Ohio, and other cities in the Miama Valley are protected by five conservancy dams built at a communal cost of 33,000,000 dollars, and they remained untouched by the flood, although the waters are raging all about them. Congressional representatives from the Ohio River valley States announced that they will seek an immediate appropriation oJ 320,000,000 dollars for food control.