DAM DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19897, 16 March 1928, Page 11

DAM DISASTER.

[VICTIMS OF THE FLOOD. LIST OF DEAD INCREASED. CHILDREN FORM MAJORITY. HUNDREDS STILD MISSING. •DISEASE NOW A DANGER. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received March 15, 5.15 p.m.)" •A. and N.Z. LOS ANGELES, March 14. An unofficial estimate gives the number bf deaths caused by the bursting of the St. Francis dam yesterday morning as 300. An official list, cannot bo compiled for several days. There is now danger of disease breaking out among the rescue workers and the people who have been rendered Tiemeless. Relief stations have been established where inoculation against typhoid fevet is being carried out.. Mos'i of the bodies of the victims are believnd to b" still buried beneath the sand near Santa Paula 0 where those found were badly mutilated. Damage estimated at £1.000,000 was done to the orchards in the devastated valley 3. The top soil was carried away and a blanket of sand was !eft spread in the place of the former fertile earth State architects and engineers say the dam was not based on colid rock, but that one end of it was fastened to a shale foundation and the other to a conglomerate formation. Water is said to have permeated the soil on each side of the structure, and to have weakened it. Both sides gave way, and now only the centre portion remains standing. The dam was what is known as the gravity type. It was arched up-stream and built of solid concrete. It was 250 ft. high and 160?t. long at stream level. The Mayor of Los Angeles, Mr. George E. Crver, announced to-day that the civic authorities would take care of all property damaged by the flood. The most conservative estimates place the total damage at not less than £2,000,000. Investigations into the cause of the collapse of the idam are in hand. The President, Mr. Coolidg'e, has offered Federal aid to be given if necessary. Rescuers have hardly more than begun to be able to work in the devastated regions. From 300 to 400 people are believed to be still missing. Many bodies which have been located cannot yet be reached. Others are probably buried deep beneath the silt, and may never be found. Stragglers are beginning to come into Los Angeles from isolated points, carrying their dead. Nearly all the people in the valleys are searching through the hills and ruins for relatives. The majority of those killed seem to lave been children. More than 1000 men with shovels, picks and tractors are at work clearing away the mud and silt.