AMERICAN FLOODS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 25 March 1936, Page 7

AMERICAN FLOODS

RAPIDLY RECEDING IN EAST EPIDEMICS STILL FEARED LARGE OVERFLOW FROM OHIO RIVER (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) NEW YORK, 23rd March. With the exception of the Merrimac and a few rivers in Maine, flood waters were receding rapidly throughout the East to-day, with relief agencies redoubling their efforts lo succour thousands in distress. Virtual martial law was enforced at Hartford, where militiamen were ordered to shoot looters. The menace of epidemics is serious there, as cases of pneumonia, typhoid, diphtheria and ptomaine poisoning have been reported. Health officials have ordered the inoculation of 30,0CX) persons throughout Connecticut. Meanwhile the flood in the Ohio River continues to break its way toward the Mississippi, breaking dykes and flooding hundreds of thousands of acres of lowland country. Citizens of Portsmouth (Ohio) watched apprehensively to-day as the rise in the river appeared to be halted at 59.2 feet, just below the 60-foot flood wall protecting the city. Low sections of Cincinnati and Louisville were, inundated, forcing the evacuation of several hundred families, but there were no casualties. Latest statistics show 172 identified dead and 425,000 homeless. Property loss amounts to 500,000,000 dollars.