DEATH ROLL MOUNTING

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17220, 1 October 1927, Page 7

DEATH ROLL MOUNTING

GREAT CYCLONE AT ST. LOUIS.

IMMENSE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY,

LOOTERS TO BE SUMMARILY SHOT

25,000 PERSONS HOMELESS

The following messages wore reaelved eariler:—

AN AWFUL FIVE MINUTES.

69 PERSONS KILLED: 600 INJURED

NEW YORK, September 29

A terrific tornado to-day swept through the city of St. Louis, the capital of Missouri. The wind reached a velocity of 80 miles an hour. In the space of five minutes 69 persons were killed, 600 others were injured, and an area of six square miles of the city was laid waste. The damage done in the brief period of the storm is estimated at £15,000,000. Hundreds of persons were removed to hospitals this evening after having been dragged from beneath the debris of their houses or from damaged schools and factories. Many of the finest homes in the city are in ruins, fires having destroyed some that were not wrecked. 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, roofs were lifted off and telegraph, telephone and tram trolley lines were blown into a tangled mass. Hundreds of ambulances from the city hospitals and numerous motor-cars were pressed into service to take the injured to the hospitals, most of which were swamped by rain. The city was almost isolated from outside communication.

« (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) (Received October 1, 10-45 a.m.) NEW YORK, September 30, The bodies of 80 victims of the cyclone in St. Louis have now been recovered. Many others are believed to be buried under the debris, and it is feared the final death roll may reach 150. The number of injured is estimated at between 1000 and 1.500 and of these 300 are in a serious condition.

The damage to property is tentatively placed at between £16,000,000 and £20,000,000.

The Federal Government has despatched 1000 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 the food stations or using war department supplies set up in the stricken districts.

Preparations have been m'ade for taking care of the homeless who are estimated at 25,000.

The most pitiful scenes occurred in the Negro section where the flimsy frame houses crushed like cardboard boxes. The toll of the killed and injured in this area is especially high. Entire sections of brick apartment buildings in the better residential districts were pulled down, and the structures uprooted. One residential street, which was noted for its steady elms, now has the appearance of a carelessly lumbered forest, the trees being snapped off and torn apart by the wind. The police state they have the greatest difficulty in keeping sightseers out of the stricken areas, thousands having flocked to the scene of the. disaster. The hotels arc crowded with homeless victims.

It is estimated that more than 5000 buildings were demolished. Many of the dead were killed when the walls of the houses collapsed on them. Nearly one inch of rain fell during the storm, adding to the distress of the injured. The tornado was the most destructive since ttiat of May 27, 1896, when 140 persons were killed. It came with bewildering suddenness. The air was literally black with Hying debris. Several of those vvlio 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 llying wreckage. Troops are now patrolling the streets of the city and, with firemen and policemen, are digging into the debris. The damage and the casualties would probably have been greater if the tornado had struck the business areas of the city, which were crowded with people, instead of the residential districts.

79 DEAD. MORE THAN SOO INJURED. (Received October 1, 8.50 a.m.) VANCOUVER, October 30. The latest St. Louis news states that 79 are dead and more than 800 injured by the cyclone which obliterated trie finest residential district of the city.