FLOODS RACE ONWARD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19845, 20 May 1927, Page 7

FLOODS RACE ONWARD

SETTLERS FLEE IN HASTE Terrible Devastation Continues in America »■ - ■ REFUGEES’ SORRY PLIGHT [By Telegraph—Per Press Assn.—Copyright.] Received Mav 19, 8 p.m. (A. & N.Z.) NEW YORK, May 19. News from New Orleans states that with the frenzied flood the waters racing towa r ds the village of St. Martins, 1500 Acadian peasants, whose homes are doomed, are scattering like ants to the highlands. Observers state that waves reaching to their crests 30 or 40 feet are sweeping everything aside and it is only a matter of hours before the hamlet will be submerged. Mr Herbert Hoover, who continues to battle his way through the torrent aboard a a cutter, recounted the thrilling rescue of a five year old boy by guardsmen who leaped from the cutter when the child was hurled into the maelstrom from a falling bridge. The roads to the highlands are choked with frantic humanity, many of whom, separated from their families, fall by the wayside weary with grief and fatigue. At least eight people were drowned when a natural dam on the Grosventre River burst on Wednesday. A wall of water swept through the settlement of Kelly (Wyoming) and spread for the width 5? a mile and a half.

A clouffburst struck the settlement of Peoria (Illinois) on Wednesday, flooding the surrounding lowlands. Fifteen are reported to have been downed.