87 DEAD IN HURRICANE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22440, 22 September 1947, Page 5

87 DEAD IN HURRICANE

DEVASTATION ON GULF COAST HUGE SEAS SWEEP AWAY HOMES (N.Z.P. A.—Reuter —Copyi-ight.) (10 a.m.) NEW YORK. Sept, 21. Up to 87 persons are reported to have been killed or missing and nearly 1000 injured in a hurricane which has lashed the Gulf of Mexico for 11 days. The death roll is expected to mount when contact is re-estab-lished with isolated communities and a check is made of fishing fleets. Thousands of people are homeless and the property damage at. present is immeasurable.

Sweeping Toward Arkansas

The Weather Bureau reported yesterday that the hurricane which swept through Southern Florida and .Gulf Coast towards Arkansas, was now turning into rain squalls and winds should drop to 25 to 35 miles an hour this afternoon. A later report stated.that another tropical disturbance, with winds up to 40 miles an hour, would cross extreme Southern Florida tonight and Sunday. Mississippi National Guardsmen received orders to shoot looters and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed along the devastated Mississippi and Gulf Coast. The Florida deaths increased to. 17 when a Cuban fishing vessel put into Fort Myers witli a report that 11 of the crew had been drowned. Six were reported dead in New Orleans and its environs. The police reported tonight that the flood danger, as a result of. the hurricane, was increasing at the city’s eastern edge. The Mayor of New Orleans estimated the properly damage in New Orleans alone at 3,000,000 dollars. 20ft. Wave Carries Away Buildings

Biloxi, a pleasure resort east of New Orleans, was the hardest hit. It is estimated that 1500 families are homeless. Approximately 750 houses and 95 other buildings were destroyed and 1000 homes damaged. The Biloxi harbour is a mass of wrecked shipping. . A wave 20ft hign swept into Biloxi and receded with the' wreckage of cafes and casinos which lined the shore road. The budies of a mother and three children were washed ashore. The latest report of destruction at Bayou La Banre was that its houses were floating out to sea on a 10ft tide. Tidal waters flooded much of the Bayou country. . , , , Two empty troop-carriers broke loose in Mobile Bay, Alabama and drifted into the city area. Among the injured is a man who was struck by a wind-blown motor car. „. . At Pascagoula, in the Mississippi State, two ships fell off the shipbuilders ways and drifted derelict out to sea. All the town’s 7000 houses are damaged. A Gulf port reported that the houses are 3ft under water. Railways ana causeways west of Pascagoula were washed out and t aflic over the famous scenic southern route has been suspended, indefinitely. . The fringe of the hurricane hit Baton Rouge but the Louisiana capital rode it out -vith only a few unroofed buildings. Agricultural damage in Louisiana is estimated at 10,00.’, 000 dollars apail from the citrus crop. Up and down the Uulf Coast the dismal story was repeated—homes end buildings crushed or earned away bj the wind and raging seas, transpoitation blocked, property inundated communications cut and, ovemdmg c<ll, the colossal job of feeding and sheiteiinu the refugees. . Confirmed reports as to the number of casualties are still lacking, but up to 87 persons are reported dead or mising in the Mississippi area mt by the storm. Twenty-four bodies have been recovered, mostly in the shoreline section between New Orleans and Biloxi.