AMERICAN FLOODS

Evening Star, Issue 19708, 8 November 1927, Page 5

AMERICAN FLOODS

THE HEW ENGLAND DISASTER WATERS FLOWING SOUTH CONNECTICUT RIVER RISING. Pmm Auociation—By Telegraph—Copyright. WASHINGTON November G. With freezing weather anil snowstorms grinping inundated New England, and the knowivcleiul totalling 100, the stricken area is undergoing the second phase of the greatest disaster in the history of this territory since its settlement i>oo years ago. Aviators who were attempting to carry supplies to Vermont sufferers were driven back by heavy snows. While the flood waters are now receding from the northern section, they have flowed as far south as the suburbs of the city of Hartford. Radio messages indicate that the most urgent needs in the way of supplies are salt, sugar or saccharine, and yeast, the drug supplies being adequate. The herds in some of the most prosperous dairying areas have been destroyed., while many largo poultry farms have been wiped out. The tobacco fields of Connecticut have also suffered greatly, and the main manufacturing plants and huge hydro-electric establishments have been destroyed or have suffered heavy damage. A dozen communities to-night are without light, heat, or water, the sources of the fatter being polluted by overflowing sewers. Tho roads are impassable, bridges aro down, and the greater part of the communications nave not yet been re-establisehd. Ail relief efforts are radiating from Boston, which has sent platoons of troops, including medical units, _in motor lorries. Those are penetrating into the various areas slowly. The principal danger point for fur ther floods appears to bo Windsor Bocks, Connecticut, where the Connecticut River stands 29ft above .mean level and is rising at the rate of Ift hourly, forcing many families to vacate their homes and seek higher lauds. The city of Hartford, which stands at tfie head of steamer navigation on the Connecticut River, to-day suffered its first casualty, when a four-ycur-old boy was drowned. The cities of Wutcrbury, Naugatuck, Derby, and Ansonin, all largo manufacturing centres, aro being threatened.

The damage to property already suffered in the storm area exceeds o(J,000,PUU dollars.