CLOUDBURST IN COLORADO

Otago Witness, Issue 3509, 14 June 1921, Page 24

CLOUDBURST IN COLORADO

COUNTRY A HUGE LAKE. NEW YORK, June 4. It is reported that the death roll owing to the cloudburst will not exceed 50/. The damage is estimated at £2,000,000. The floods were caused by the overflowing of the Arkansas mountain rivei i. There is 6ft of water in the business se - tion of Pueblo. Several destructive outbreaks of fire occurred. Thousands aio homeless. Railway bridges and much Tolling stock were washed away. Later reports state that two trains in the Pueblo yards were overturned, and many passengers were killed or injured. Several irrigation dams have broken, and wide areas are flooded. Heavy rain continues. June 6. Pueblo reports state that the best estimates place the toll of the flood at 150 lives, and the damage to property at 10,000,000 dollars, but unofficial estimates range from 100 to 3000 casualties. The flood in Arkansas River receded on Sunday morning, but rain was falling at fikagway and caused a dam to burst later in the day, though a new flood did not develop seriously. Late in the afternoon, however, a telegraphist at Pueblo sent the following message: “ Another flood is upon us. We are ordered to quit.” This is the last message that has been received. A courier savs that the country between Pueblo and Nepc-sta is a huge lake, and railways and telegraph poles have disappeared. HEROIC RESCUE WORK. NEW YORK, June 6.* Reports are filtering through from the flood area showing that 16 towns are under from 3ft to 15ft of water. At Loveland two reservoirs broke, obliterating the railway. The irrigation ditches throughout the district collapsed. Four big dams were also carried away The devastation is so widespread, and the reports are so numerous and conflict ing that it is impossible to estimate the number of deaths or the amount of damage done. The populations in the affected cities either fled as soon as a warning was received or wore rescued by fleets of boats. The Arkansas River broke another dam, causing a fresh flood to sweep through Pueblo, and hampering the relief work. The city was for three days without food and water or medical assistance. Diphtheria and pneumonia have broken out. The troops are working heroically to clear the wreckage. Military law has been rigorously enforced. Twenty-five looters have been arrested. One Mexican was ®hot. The official check indicates that the food death roll is greatly below the csti mates. While 35 bodies have been re

covered, there are 100 accounted for. It is believed that many of those who were first reported as dead flew before the water reached them. The survivors of two trains which were overtaken by the flood tell a graphic story. The river seemed to rise suddeniv and engulf the trains. The coaches crashed together, and the passengers climbed on the roofs, many being swept off. The damage to property hereabouts is estimated at 50,000,000 dollars. The flood at Topeka is sweeping the western plains of Kansas. Big sections of the Santa Fe railroad are inundated at Denver. The Platte River is overflowing and flooding the low parts of the town.