AFTER THE HURRICANE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19486, 16 November 1926, Page 13

AFTER THE HURRICANE.

REBUILDING -OF MIAMI. ___ ! "READY IN NINETY DAYS." Every discernible source of man power from Pompano to Hialeah has been tapped to speed the work of relief and reconstruction along the 60 miles cf Florida's storm-wrecked coast, said Mr. J. B. Phillips, in telegraphing to the New York Herald-Tribune, on September 25. Miami, with most of its debris cleared away, declared it would be ready for the winter season within 90 days. Mr. Phillips says:—"A week ago this morning the storm struck, driving the waters of the bay and ocean over this town which called itself the playground of America, crashing houses, destroying villages, and exacting a toll of 400 lives and £25,000,000 or more m property damages. To-day the relief work in Miami has reached a feverish pitch, and a clearly defined end is evident. Destroyed homes are being repaired. The homeless are ted. Salvage work in the harbour, the most desolate spot in Miami, is under way. The danger of a typhoid epidemic lessens daily with arrival, of medical supplies and the end of congestion in the hospitals. Conditions in Smaller Towns. Miami is a step ahead of the smaller towns to the north between its limits and Pompano. It has turned to reconstruction. The others arc handicapped with less perfect municipal facilities and a dearth of man power. Their principal concern still is the care of the injured and preservation of health. Conditions are still serious in two of them—Fort Lauderdale and Hialeah. ''The streets of Miami are crowded with Red Cross cars, food trucks and cars flying the banner of the citizens' relief committee. Sailors, marines and civil labourers are clambering over the wrecked hulks in the harbour or going down in search of the bodies of the drowned. Carpenters and labourers are being rushed by the truckload to repair the 5000 homes within the city. "The emergency labour buieau is searching for men. City departments have conscripted several score to work in #>e harbour. The Red Cross, which is in charge of transportation permits, has refused these papers to able-bodied men. Placards on every official headquarters front proclaim that "Labourers are wanted." Belief workers have been asked to report, or have reported on their own initiative, any examples of shirking they find. Exaggerated Reports. "The Mayor, Mr. Romfh, issued a statement deprecating exaggerated reports of tlie damage to the town. Business houses, most of them still windowless, and many leaning on temporary props, flaunted 'business as usual' signs. Beside some of the battered ship skeletons cast on the beach rest placards, 'This boat will be rebuilt.' "A bureau to enlist unskilled labour, opened by the Elks Lodge, is receiving j hundreds of volunteers daily. Several ! school teachers and many clerks have j volunteered. The opening of the school next Monday has been postponed. The extent of damage in the harbour is incalculable. There is no record of all the vessels and pleasure cra.fi anchored there when the hurricane hit. At least 100 craft, including schooners and freight vessels, were hurled ashore and left stranded. It is believed thjtt about 200 smaller craft sank. Those in charge of the work said 90 per cent, of the vessels in tha harbour were wrecked. Much of the labour used in the salvage work has been conscripted. A sailor and three negroes weru shot yesterday during a quarrel engendered by the labour' situation, but none was hurt seriously, and the threat of racial trouble had disappeared to-day."