DESTRUCTION AND DEATH

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 164, 1 October 1927, Page 1

DESTRUCTION AND DEATH

TERRIBLE TORNADO AT ST. LOUIS APPALLING ROLL OF DEAD AND INJURED

/'•KIM details still come of the death and destruction ” wrought in St. Louis by the fearful tornado of Thursday. The death roll may reach 150, the injured number between 1.000 and 1,500; the damage is between £.16.000,000 and £20,000,000. Most pitiful and dreadful scenes were witnessed as those seeking to succour the bereaved and the homeless went about their task. Large forces of police have been mustered, with orders to shoot to kill anyone caught looting.

— jti tc* a social ion. — copyright Reed. 9.40 a.m. ST. LOUIS, Friday. cpHE bodies of 80 victims of the cyclone have been recovered. Many others are believed to be buried under the debris, and it is feared that the final death-list may reach 150. The number of injured is estimated at between 1,000 and 1,500, of whom the condition of 300 is serious. Property damage is tentatively placed between £16,000,000 anil £20,000,000. The Federal Government has dispatched 1,000 regular troops to the scene of the disaster. The police and national guardsmen have also been mustered with orders to shoot to kill anyone caught looting;. Food stations, using War Department supplies, have been set up in the stricken districts, and preparations made for taking care of 25,000 homeless persons-. Most pitiful scenes were witnessed in the negro section, where the flimsy "frame-houses were crushed like cardboard boxes. The toll of killed arid injured in this area was especially high. The finest residential district was obliterated. Entire sections of brick apartment buildings in the better residential districts were pulled down, and other structures uprooted. One residential street noted for its stately elms now has the appearance of a carelessly lumbered forest, the trees being snapped off and torn apart by the wind. The police state that they have the greatest difficulty in handling the situation, and in keeping the sightseers out of the stricken areas, where thousands flocked. The hotels are crowded with homeless victims.

The damage was mostly in the residential area, where the tornado pursued its “freak” course. Afterwards it tore its way through Missouri and Illinois and blew down factory chimneys, farmhouses and trees. In St. Louis pedestrians were swept off their feet, motor-cars were tossed about. roof 3 were lifted off and telegraph, telephone and tram trolley lines were blown into a tangled mass. It is estimated that more than 5,000 buildings were demolished. Many of the injured were killed when the walls of the houses collapsed upon them. Nearly one inch of rain fell during the storm, adding to the distress of the injured. The tornado was the most destructive since that of May 27, 1896, when 1,400 persons were killed. It came with bewildering suddenness. The air was literally black with flying debris. Several of those who were killed met their deaths in unusual ways. One man was felled by a telephone pole. Two workers in an iron factory had ladles of hot metal poured over them. Two women were burned when their collapsing homes prevented their egress. A policeman on his beat was crushed by flying wreckage.—A. and N.Z. St. Louis is the fourth city in population in the States, with over 800,000 inhabitants. There are many fine buildings and one of the most magnificent railway stations in the world. Some of the residential streets are considered among the handsomest in any city in the world. It is noted for its public parks, which have an area of over 2,900 acres. A special system of town-planning was introduced in 1912, with a zoning law regulating the different districts. St. Louis has the largest fur market and the largest horse and mule market in the world. The famous municipal open-air theatre seats 9,267 persons.