CHAPTER XXIII

CHAPTER XXIIIThe Tornado in Indiana

THE BRUNT OF THE STORM—MANY BURIED UNDER WRECKAGE—SLEEPERS HURLED FROM BEDS—FREAKS OF THE STORM—INJURED CARRIED TO HOSPITALS—ACUTE SUFFERING—RESCUE WORK—NATIONAL GUARD ON DUTY—TOWN OF PERTH LAID WASTE.

The record of disaster by tornado was greater in Terre Haute than in any other place except Omaha. For two weeks before Easter a dense atmosphere hung over the city, which occasional heavy rainfalls did not clear. Then suddenly on Sunday night, about ten o'clock, the lightning flashed and loud peals of thunder followed.

The tornado seemed to spring out of the southwestern part of the city as if it came from the swollen waters of the Wabash River. It first smashed into Gardentown, a suburb of the city, where a great many working people live, and every building in its path crumpled down before it. The lightning sped over building after building, setting many of them on fire. Parts of the Root Glass Company's plant were flattened. The end of the foundry room of the GartlandFactory, a solid brick wall eight inches thick, was caved in. Brick and stone structures suffered alike.

MANY BURIED UNDER WRECKAGE

In the streets were tangled masses of twisted electric wires spluttering out warnings of death for those who, careless of the first alarm, had rushed in to rescue those who had been buried under roofs and walls. Policemen, firemen and a host of volunteers struggled through the debris, sidestepping the live wires that had been torn from their fastenings.

The heavy downpour of rain extinguished many fires, and the city of Terre Haute was thereby saved from destruction by fire. The large Greenwood public school was shattered and torn. The tornado, like a huge auger, bored into the roof and tore the shingles and rafters away and every window was hurled from its casing. This building was later converted into a hospital and morgue.

SLEEPERS HURLED FROM BEDS

In many instances death came to those who were asleep in their beds when their homes collapsed about them. In other cases the bodies were picked up as if by giant hands and hurled either to death or to terrible injury. Some were thrown more than a hundred feet.

Above the roar of the wind and the rattle of the rain could be heard the screams of frantic women and children. The scenes were pitiful. Men and women were looking for loved ones, and when a torn and mangled form was taken from the debris, a woman's shriek would tell the story of a lost one found.

Hundreds of buildings were demolished by the tornado at Terre Haute, Indiana, and many lives were lostCopyright by George Grantham Bain.Hundreds of buildings were demolished by the tornado at Terre Haute, Indiana, and many lives were lostlink to high-resolution image

Copyright by George Grantham Bain.Hundreds of buildings were demolished by the tornado at Terre Haute, Indiana, and many lives were lost

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Scenes such as this could be duplicated hundreds of times to illustrate the demoniacal power of the tornado that laid waste the cities and towns through which it passedPhotograph by Brown Bros.Scenes such as this could be duplicated hundreds of times to illustrate the demoniacal power of the tornado that laid waste the cities and towns through which it passedlink to high-resolution image

Photograph by Brown Bros.Scenes such as this could be duplicated hundreds of times to illustrate the demoniacal power of the tornado that laid waste the cities and towns through which it passed

link to high-resolution image

THE REAPERTHE REAPER

THE REAPER

Charles Chadwick, a six-year-old boy, owed his escape to the fact that he left home, in the absence of his parents, to go to a moving-picture show. He was found walking along South Fifth Street after the storm, but his home could not be found as it had been blown away.

Seven houses owned by Fred Housman, including the onehe lived in, on the Lockport road, were swept away completely. Five wrecked autos were found on that road.

Between Hulman and Voorhees Streets, in South Eighth, there was complete devastation. Twenty-five houses were leveled to the ground in this stretch.

On the Lockport road, south of Idaho, at least sixteen houses were destroyed, but there were no fatalities and few were injured in this immediate neighborhood.

MOTHER AND CHILD SWEPT AWAY

Mrs. Flora Wood was hurled seven feet from her home, her small baby clasped in her arms. They were cared for at the Third United Brethren Church.

The day-old baby of Mrs. Leonard Sloan was found in one corner of the bedroom of their home, while the mother lay in another corner. The entire top of the house had been blown away.

William Rogers, Superintendent of the United Brethren Sunday-school, was buried beneath the walls of his home. He died while being carried to the school house.

A large stone boarding house conducted by Mrs. Catherine Louden was wrecked and the aged woman and her son, Ralph Louden, were badly injured.

Many houses were wrecked between Third and Fifth Streets in Voorhees Street.

FREIGHT CAR USED AS HOSPITAL

A freight car was pressed into service as a temporary medical quarter, when the fire wagons with the police andfire departments arrived on the scene. The live wires and burning debris made it impossible for the ambulances to get within two blocks of the scene, and the bodies had to be carried to safety by the rescuers.

Six fires broke out in different parts of the devastated district, while the rescue work was being carried on. The strong winds still blowing fanned the flames and drove the rescuers from their work.

FAMILY BURIED UNDER HOUSE

Fred King, a glass blower at 2146 Dilman Street, was found with his wife and baby covered by the heavy timbers of their home that had collapsed when the storm struck it. King had been hurled from his bed a distance of ten feet. Two heavy timbers had almost crushed the life out of him. His wife was terribly injured. A few feet away the baby was picked up dead. The mother in her death struggles probably tried to save the baby by throwing it away from her.

Near the Greenwood school several more were killed and many were injured. Mrs. E. J. Edwards, wife of a druggist, was knocked down by a heavy timber that broke her leg and pinned her to the ground. When she was found the woman was screaming for her child, and later the little fellow, eight years old, was picked up dead and carried to the Greenwood school building.

Remarkable escapes were made in the twenty-four hundred block on South Third Street, some of the residents ofthe square being seriously injured. Mr. and Mrs. George Carmichael escaped from their home as it was blown away by the wind.

Many families were separated in the excitement and for two hours after the storm had passed anxious husbands, mothers and children were searching the debris for absent members of their families. Many could not find the wrecked remains of their homes, so hopelessly tangled was the wreckage in the streets and on the sidewalks, and in several cases it was difficult even to find the place where the home had stood.

INJURED CARRIED TO HOSPITALS

Ambulances and moving vans were used to carry the injured to hospitals and as these were soon filled stables and homes were converted into temporary hospitals. More than two hundred persons were placed under the care of doctors, but many were only slightly hurt and in some cases women were found to be suffering merely from fright. These were soon dismissed to make room for those actually suffering.

The scenes at the hospitals were pitiful. The agony of the sufferers was increased by the uncertainty as to the fate and condition of their families and friends.

Little children, lying in bandages about the hospital, cried out in pain and fright. One little fellow with a big gash over his eye cried out for his mother as he was being taken to the operating room. His father sat near him and tried to lend what comfort was possible. A little girl in one of the largerooms of the hospital played and laughed on her bed while three anxious physicians worked with her sister, who had sustained a compound fracture of the leg and a dislocated shoulder.

VICTIMS' FRIENDS CROWD TO FIND THEM

Friends and relatives of people living in the storm devastated region soon crowded the halls of the hospitals, anxiously inquiring if those dear to them were among the victims. Many learned of the whereabouts of relatives or friends in the rooms of the hospital and crowded in to see them when this was possible, expressing joy that they had escaped from death beneath the falling walls and timbers of their homes. One man, when lifted on the operating table, was found to be dead.

RESCUE WORK

The rescue work was carried on rapidly, and Monday night all the homeless were cared for by charitable institutions and citizens, while the more seriously injured were carried to places where they could receive medical attention. In many cases private homes were turned into temporary hospitals.

The scenes in the wrecked sections in Terre Haute brought tears to the eyes of the rescuers, whose attention often was called to the dying, trapped in the debris of their homes, by agonizing screams for aid. Some died before they could be freed from wreckage and others who were removed died afterward.

NATIONAL GUARD ON DUTY

A company of the Indiana National Guard was placed on duty in the devastated district early Monday morning while the work of searching the ruins for dead was still in progress. Over the entire area were scattered all kinds of household furniture, wearing apparel, beds and bedding.

Looting began within a few moments and the police were at first too busy caring for the injured and removing the dead from the debris to protect property, but the members of the National Guard soon established an efficient patrol and the looters were not in evidence afterward.

TOWN OF PERTH LAID WASTE

The tornado which visited Terre Haute also struck Perth, in the northern part of Clay County, about ten o'clock and then vanished in the air. No lives were lost there and only one person was injured.

Nearly every building in the little town of 400 population was wrecked or damaged. A brick store building, five two-story houses and seven cottages, the Congregational church, a school house, a three-story structure, barns and outhouses were completely demolished.

CHAPTER XXIVThe Tornado in Pennsylvania

STORMS THROUGHOUT THE STATE—ALARM IN ALTOONA—FURIOUS WIND IN WILLIAMSPORT—HEAVY STORM IN SHAMOKIN—COLUMBIA IN DARKNESS—A VERITABLE TORNADO IN SCRANTON.

The disturbances in the atmosphere which wrought such havoc in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana were also at work in Pennsylvania. Altoona, Williamsport, Marietta, Columbia and Scranton were among the towns suffering the greatest damage. The flood situation throughout the Keystone State will be treated in a later chapter.

ALARM IN ALTOONA

The storm struck Altoona on Tuesday, March 25th. With a crash that alarmed the entire neighborhood, eighty feet of the 162-foot steel stack at the Pennsylvania Central Light and Power Company's plant was blown down. The wind tore madly through the city and the rain fell in torrents. Many houses were unroofed and a number of smaller buildings were entirely demolished. No one was injured, but damage to the extent of at least $2,000 was reported.

FURIOUS WINDS IN WILLIAMSPORT

A heavy wind and rainstorm swept through Williamsport on the same afternoon, following a few hours of clear weather that came in the wake of twenty-four hours' rain. It unroofed a number of houses in the west end of the city, blew away the roofs of several cars in the Newberry Junction railroad yards, partially demolished a car inspector's office, sent twenty men in a panic from the second story of the New York Central offices, which they feared would be blown to pieces; blew in the front of a store on Grove Street and scattered canned goods for a block down the street and swept a path through a grove in the same section, prostrating a dozen giant oaks.

Train service through Williamsport was seriously deranged all day Tuesday. A landslide that covered both tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad for sixty feet, with a mass of mud five feet deep, three miles east of Renovo, completely upset the train schedule on the Susquehanna Division.

The slide occurred about seven o'clock in the morning, and it was not until eleven o'clock that the eastbound track was opened and passenger trains were let through. The westbound track was not cleared until the morning. While the blockade existed special trains were run from Williamsport.

HEAVY STORM IN SHAMOKIN

A terrific wind storm from the northwest swept through Shamokin Valley and Shamokin, followed by rain, which fell in torrents. This storm also occurred on Tuesday. Crops in country districts were torn up and badly damaged, whilelowlands were flooded. Roofs on a number of barns and out-dwellings were blown away, and telephone and telegraph wires were put out of commission.

COLUMBIA IN DARKNESS

Columbia was struck by a severe electric storm accompanied by a downpour of rain on Tuesday evening. Lightning struck the local electric plant, doing considerable damage and putting the town in total darkness for the night. Many residents and storekeepers were compelled to resort to candles to help them out during the evening.

A VERITABLE TORNADO IN SCRANTON

In Scranton the storm of March 25th amounted to a veritable tornado. The Round Woods section of the city suffered most. The Clemons Silk Mill, owned by D. G. Derry, of Catasauqua, was unroofed and a 150-foot section of the roof was deposited on the adjacent engine room, partially demolishing the structure. The two sixty-foot smokestacks in the rear yard fell on top of the engine house. The roof of the warping department also fell on the engine house. The back walls of the warping department fell into the yard, while the upper part of the front walls fell in. The machines were six feet from the walls. The girls crouched under their machines and escaped serious injury. Several fainted and were carried out by foremen.

Amelia Davis, a warper, was hit on the head by a brick as she hurried from the second floor. Tessie Carey, of Minooka,sustained a black eye and lacerations of the left side of the face by falling bricks. Gus Minnick, a repairer, working in the engine room, had just set his dinner pail where one of the stacks fell. There were altogether one hundred and fifty girls at work, but outside of bruises and scratches they were uninjured. The property damage was about $20,000. Much silk on the looms was ruined.

A large tower was blown off a school. Three houses in the neighborhood were also badly damaged by the wind. The storm caused destruction in all parts of the city and adjoining places.

Trees and fences were blown down in all parts of the city and in the adjoining country.

The storm came from the west and its approach was preceded by an inky black sky which, coupled with thoughts of the havoc of Sunday's storm in Nebraska, caused a general consternation. A heavy downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning followed the tornado.

CHAPTER XXVThe Freak Tornado in Alabama

FREAKS OF THE WIND—PITIABLE CHAOS—THE HERO OF LOWER PEACHTREE—EXTENT OF DAMAGE.

Weird tales of horror and misery attended the tornado which swept over the little town of Lower Peachtree, Alabama, on Friday, March 21st, wrecking the entire village.

After the tornado had passed, corpses with hair stripped from heads and divested of every thread of clothing were picked up. Naked men and women ran screaming in the semi-darkness.

Chickens and hogs stripped of feathers and hair wandered in bewilderment among the ruins. Nailed unerringly into trees cleaned of their bark were pickets from fences that had been swept away. Where once had stood a big steamboat warehouse near the river was left the floor of the building standing upon which were the entire contents of the warehouse untouched by the terrific whirls of the wind.

In the backyard of the Bryant home, buried in debris, was a chicken coop, not a splinter awry. Within it was a goose sitting meekly upon a dozen eggs which she had not left.

The blast wrenched an iron bed from a house and wrapped it around a tree trunk as no human hand could have done.

Crossing the river from the town it had desolated it bore away half of a soapstone bluff many feet in height and left the other half standing unmarred.

Miss Mary Watson, a visitor in the Stabler home, was crossing a hallway when the tornado struck. She was swept through the hallway and to the rear of the house, where she was blown against a tree and her back broken.

PITIABLE CHAOS

In the business neighborhood everything was swept away except two grocery stores. They were thrown open as dispensaries of free provisions.

No semblance of order could be brought from the pitiable chaos of the wrecked town until Sunday afternoon, when cool heads prevailed and the survivors and visitors who offered assistance were regularly organized into committees to attend to the needs of the sufferers.

Troops from Fort Oglethorpe, with hospital corps and supplies for the relief of the sufferers arrived Sunday night and administered to the needs of the injured and homeless.

THE HERO OF LOWER PEACHTREE

Tributes to the bravery of Professor Griffin, a survivor of the tornado, were paid by many who visited the scene. Professor Griffin, after having been blown hundreds of feet from his home, returned bruised and bleeding to the center of thetown and worked unceasingly to relieve the injured and to quiet survivors, insane with grief and excitement. Peter Milledge, whose wife and two children perished when their home was destroyed, went mad.

EXTENT OF DAMAGE

The Red Cross agent who investigated the situation at Lower Peachtree on Wednesday, March 26th, reported that sixty-eight were injured in the tornado which swept that section and that two hundred were destitute.

CHAPTER XXVIThe Flood in New York

HUNDREDS OF HOMES IN BUFFALO FLOODED—THE PLIGHT OF ROCHESTER—VALLEY OF THE GENESEE PARALYZED—DRIVEN FROM HOMES AT OLEAN—WORST FLOOD IN HISTORY OF HORNELL—LAKE COUNTRY PARALYZED WITH FEAR—WATER COVERS PART OF BINGHAMTON—GLENS FALLS BRIDGE DOWN—DISTRESS IN FORT EDWARD—BIG PAPER COMPANY IN TROUBLE—HOMES ABANDONED IN SCHENECTADY—HIGH WATERS IN TROY—WATERVLIET FLOODED—ALBANY IN THE GRIP OF THE FLOOD.

A tremendous downfall of rain, March 24th and 25th, developed some of the worst floods known in fifty years. Vast areas of New York were under water and hundreds of homes were swept away.

On the night of March 25th the entire area of South Buffalo was under water, street car traffic was suspended and rowboats were plying the streets.

The Buffalo River and Cazenovia Creek had both overflowed their banks with a rush at ten o'clock in the morning, and the dwellers in the South Park section of the city had no chance to escape.

Hundreds of homes were soon flooded. Firemen were sent out in boats to rescue those who desired to leave. Hundreds of workers were marooned in distant parts of the city, unable to reach their homes.

Within the city limits of Buffalo big manufacturing plants suffered $150,000 of damage. Many big oil tanks were overturned and crashed against buildings. Train service throughout the city was practically at a standstill, and miles of track east and south of the city were washed away. The main line of the Erie Railroad, between Buffalo and New York City, was washed out in many places.

THE PLIGHT OF ROCHESTER

Not since 1865, when Rochester, then a city of 50,000, suffered immense damage by floods, has the city faced such a serious situation as it did on the night of Friday, March 28th. Half the business section was under water, which in some sections was five feet deep.

Water commenced to pour into Front, Mill and Andrew Streets early Thursday evening, and all through the night merchants worked to get their goods to higher ground. The big warehouse of the Graves Furniture Company in Mill Street was flooded so quickly that thousands of dollars damage was done to the goods. The following morning it was impossible to get through these streets except in boats and rafts, and the work of salvage was continued in this way.

The newspaper offices of thePost Express and Democratand theChroniclehad their basements flooded and the pressesput out of commission. The Pennsylvania line into Rochester, which uses the bed of the old Genesee Canal, was put out of commission. The Erie and Lehigh Valley lines to villages to the south were blocked by the floods for several days.

The only fatality of the flood occurred at six o'clock Sunday evening, when a boy who was paddling over the flooded meadow of the Genesee Valley Park was carried out into the river. The canoe was swept over the dam at Court Street.

VALLEY OF THE GENESEE PARALYZED

The whole valley of the Genesee was more or less paralyzed. As early as Wednesday the villages of Mount Morris and Dansville, in the Genesee River Valley, were under several feet of water, and the terrified folk who lived in the lowlands were hurrying to places of safety, abandoning their homes.

Commerce was soon at a standstill, and conditions continued to grow more serious. They were in some localities worse than at any time since 1865. The washing out of bridges and the flooding of roads practically cut the villages off from the outside world.

DRIVEN FROM HOMES AT OLEAN

One thousand persons were driven from their homes at Olean by the high waters of the Canisteo and Hornell. John Cook was drowned while attempting to rescue others.

Four oil tanks were floating about the city of Olean, and the coating of oil on the water made the danger from fire serious. The water was from three to ten feet deep.

Showing what was once the town of Lower Peachtree. The six X's denote the places where houses stood before the tornado, in the heart of the main residential streetsCopyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.Showing what was once the town of Lower Peachtree. The six X's denote the places where houses stood before the tornado, in the heart of the main residential streetslink to high-resolution image

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.Showing what was once the town of Lower Peachtree. The six X's denote the places where houses stood before the tornado, in the heart of the main residential streets

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One of the victims of the tornado at Omaha was picked up by the tornado and his corpse left suspended in the broken and twisted limbs of a treeCopyright by International News Service.One of the victims of the tornado at Omaha was picked up by the tornado and his corpse left suspended in the broken and twisted limbs of a treelink to high-resolution image

Copyright by International News Service.One of the victims of the tornado at Omaha was picked up by the tornado and his corpse left suspended in the broken and twisted limbs of a tree

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WORST FLOOD IN HISTORY OF HORNELL

Following thirty hours of continued rain, Hornell, a small city in Steuben County, suffered the worst flood in its history. It swept down the Canisteo Valley, completely inundating the greater portion of the city of Hornell and half a dozen villages within a radius of ten miles. A thousand homes were flooded.

The Canisteo Valley for a distance of forty miles was under water, and the situation was appalling. Roads were washed out, bridges gone and much property destroyed. The fire in every furnace in the flood district was out, and suffering was acute.

LAKE COUNTRY PARALYZED WITH FEAR

The lake region in the central western part of the state suffered heavily from floods. The villages of Marcellus, Camillus and Marietta, west of Syracuse, were threatened with extinction. The earthen bank, which adjoins the huge dam of Otisco Lake, weakened and, it was feared that if the flood conditions did not improve the bank would give way.

Auburn was seriously threatened by the rising of Owasco Lake. The dam furnishing power to the Dunn and McCarthy shoe shops broke in the center and it was feared the rest of the structure would go down. Pumps were at work continuously in the Auburn water works at Owasco Lake to keep the engine and boiler pits free of water.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad along Cayuga Lake, between Auburn and Ithaca, was under water for a distance of ninemiles south of Kings Ferry. No trains were running on that branch. A small bridge at Farley's Point, near the lower end of Cayuga Lake, was washed away. An avalanche of mud and stones buried the railroad tracks near Kings Ferry.

The incessant rains of two days raised the little creeks in the vicinity of Interlaken to torrents. Many bridges were washed out.

Canandaigua Lake reached its highest level in sixteen years. Streets in Canandaigua were flooded.

Floods due to breaks and overflows in the Erie Canal at Waterloo, Seneca Falls, Port Bryon and elsewhere, caused thousands of dollars loss. The Seneca River was over its banks.

WATER COVERS PART OF BINGHAMTON

At Binghamton, on the Susquehanna River, water covered the entire northwestern residence section of the city. All the manufacturing establishments along the river banks were closed.

Boats were forced into use in the residence districts and the Fire Department, with three steamers, endeavored to keep down the water in the basements in the business section.

GLENS FALLS BRIDGE DOWN

But more serious than the conditions anywhere else in New York were those along the Hudson River Valley. Damage estimated at not less than $300,000 was caused by high water near Glens Falls, resulting from heavy rains, which fell for nearly a week.

The steel suspension bridge, two hundred feet in length, across the Hudson between the city and South Glens Falls was destroyed. All records for high water were broken, the bridge being carried out after the steel supports underneath had been constantly pounded for hours by logs dashed against them by the raging waters.

At Hadley, one of the plants of the Union Bag and Paper Company was completely flooded, and water was pouring from every window. It was feared that the structure might be destroyed. All paper mills in the section were closed down.

DISTRESS IN FORT EDWARD

At Fort Edward village $50,000 damage was done. About one hundred families were driven from their homes to seek shelter in higher parts of the village. Many parts of the village were submerged and in the main business section five feet of water filled the cellars on the river side of the street. The water had reached the windows of the first stories of many houses in the lower sections. Trains of loaded coal cars were used to hold down the monster railroad bridge of the Delaware and Hudson Company at this village while big jams of logs threatened to carry it out.

BIG PAPER COMPANY IN TROUBLE

At least 150 feet of the big dam of the International Paper Company at Corinth was carried out and the mill partly flooded. A small part of the same company's dam at Fort Edward was also carried out. The International was one of the heaviest losers.

HOMES ABANDONED IN SCHENECTADY

At Schenectady, just west of the Hudson on the Mohawk, houses on twenty-five streets were abandoned by their occupants. The entire lower section of the city was submerged.

The whole Mohawk Valley was swept by the worst flood in its history.

The Groff dam near Herkimer broke and several houses were carried away. A dam at Canajoharie threatened to go out. Three great canal gates at Fort Plain were swept away. The Amsterdam reservoir, which covers 680 acres, was weakened and a patrol was stationed there.

HIGH WATERS IN TROY

So great was the flood in Troy, on the Hudson below the entrance of the Mohawk, that martial law was practically declared. Members of two military companies patrolled the streets, relieving the tired firemen and police, many of whom had been on continuous duty for forty-eight hours. Mayor Burns did not sleep for two nights, taking charge in person of the Public Safety Department.

Fires added to the seriousness of the flood situation and firemen were kept busy all day answering alarms in the flooded district. Damage estimated at thousands of dollars was done by the fire.

For the first time in the history of Troy the newspapers, with one exception, were unable to go to press. One publication printed a four-page pamphlet on a hand press. Another was printed in Albany.

Hundreds of families were rendered homeless, and relief stations in various parts of the city were filled with refugees. The city faced an epidemic of typhoid, and every effort was made to guard against it.

WATERVLIET FLOODED

In Watervliet the water in many places measured ten feet deep and the police station and post-office were flooded. One-third of Green Island was submerged. In Rensselaer, across the river from Albany, much damage and suffering were caused.

The losses of logs in the regions to the north amounted to many thousands of dollars and the damage in the lumber district of Albany was heavy.

ALBANY IN THE GRIP OF THE FLOOD

On March 27th the river at Albany was seventeen feet above normal and was still rising. The power plants were put out of commission, street car traffic practically suspended and schools and factories closed. The city's filtration plant was threatened. The south end of the city was under water.

Railroad service was crippled, mails delayed and telegraph and telephone service hampered. There was much damage to property, but no loss of life.

The damage in Albany was estimated at $1,000,000. Governor Sulzer was informed that about $3,500,000 will be necessary to repair the embankments along the old and the new barge canal locks and dams.

CHAPTER XXVIIThe Flood in Pennsylvania

TRAINS IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA TIED UP—MEADVILLE SUBMERGED—SHENANGO VALLEY IN DISTRESS—PANIC IN NEW CASTLE—BEAVER RIVER AT FLOOD—THE RISING ALLEGHENY AT WARREN—FEARS OF OIL CITY—GRAVE SITUATION OF PITTSBURGH.

Many dead, hundreds ill, thousands homeless, and many millions of dollars' worth of property destroyed—such was the record of the flood in the Keystone State.

By Tuesday, March 25th, railroad travel in northwestern Pennsylvania was seriously tied up on account of washouts, due to recent rains. Corry became the western terminal of the Erie Railroad, trains west of Corry being abandoned. Between Corry and Titusville were four washouts, tying up the Pennsylvania Railroad.

MEADVILLE SUBMERGED

In Meadville the situation was even worse. Once again Mill Run and Neason's Run, combined with the floods of French and Cussewago Creeks, overflowed the city.

With the exception of a few of the high sections, the entire city was under water, which in some sections reached to the second story of homes. Business places on lower Chestnut, Water, Market and South Main Streets and Park Avenue were submerged, water running through the main rooms of the hotels and other business places. The waters had a clear sweep of nearly half of the city, and never before had the four streams combined for such a gambol.

SHENANGO VALLEY IN DISTRESS

Throughout the Shenango Valley hundreds of families were imprisoned in their homes and frantic efforts were made to rescue the marooned persons from their dangerous positions. At Sharon the greatest flood in the history of the city was experienced. Thousands of persons were thrown out of employment and the property loss was enormous. The entire town was inundated and a dozen or more bridges were wrecked. The loss of the United States Steel Corporation at Farrel, a suburb, was estimated at $200,000.

The torrent swept swiftly upon Sharon. The crest reached a height of fifty feet. The released wall of water, gathering buildings, stacks of lumber, hundreds of logs and a mass of debris in its van as a giant battering ram, rolled like a giant hoop into the center of the thriving milling town. It followed the course of the Shenango, which bisects the city.

After the flood unsuccessfully rammed the double line of steel buildings the torrent passed further to the center of the city. One pier of a concrete bridge, erected two years before,which spans Silver and Porter Streets, cracked off like a matchstick. The impact carried the block of concrete, weighing several tons, for a distance of a quarter of a mile.

Fire added to the terror of the flood when Wishart's planing mill, on Railroad Street, was discovered to be in flames Tuesday afternoon. The steamers of the fire companies could not be taken close enough to pump water from the swollen Shenango. There was only one recourse—to take the supply of drinking water in the city's reservoir or permit the fire to burn and possibly jeopardize all the wooden buildings within a radius of a mile. Sharonites actually cheered the firemen as they saw their drinking water vanish.

PANIC IN NEW CASTLE

The flood waters of the Shenango caused great distress in New Castle and near-by places. The water put the lighting plants and the city water station out of commission. Fifteen hundred homes were submerged. Thousands had to flee.

BEAVER RIVER AT FLOOD

The Beaver River rose high and the entire valley from the Ohio River north was flooded. The towns of New Brighton, Fallston and Beaver Falls suffered most, and there was some damage at Rochester. Traffic on the railroads was suspended at daybreak, and not a trolley car was running in the valley.

THE RISING ALLEGHENY AT WARREN

At Warren and points all down the length of the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh, flood conditions were still more serious.

For Warren itself the worst was feared. Hourly the flood situation grew worse. On Wednesday the water was rising at the rate of four inches an hour. The river threatened to cut a new channel through the south side of the city and scores of men were piling up sandbags to prevent this.

MAP SHOWING SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA THAT WERE FLOODEDMAP SHOWING SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA THAT WERE FLOODEDlink to high-resolution image

MAP SHOWING SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA THAT WERE FLOODED

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Captain U. G. Lyons assumed charge of the situation, and under his direction a life raft composed of barrels was made and launched in the Allegheny River. Thanks to the raft, not one life was lost from among the many who floated down the stream on debris.

FEARS OF OIL CITY

Oil City, on Oil Creek near its entrance to the Allegheny River, was in a serious plight. Oil Creek overflowed its banks and covered the portion of town that was devastated by the great fire and flood of 1892.

The town was in a condition bordering on panic and business was suspended. More than seventy-five persons were removed from their homes in wagons, the water being from five to six feet deep. Railroads suffered heavily.

Newspapers and industrial plants at Oil City were shut down because of flooded power rooms. Fires were prohibited and railroad locomotives were ordered to extinguish their fires to avoid any danger of igniting the oil.

GIRL DROWNED AT FRANKLIN

One death and extensive property damage were caused in the vicinity of Franklin by the flooded condition of the Allegheny River and French Creek.

Every one in the flooded district was ordered to extinguish all fires, as benzine from the Titusville refineries was floating on the rising waters.

GRAVE SITUATION OF PITTSBURGH

In Pittsburgh the flood situation became serious by the evening of March 26th, and continued to grow rapidly worse. The gauge at Point Bridge shewed twenty-six feet at eight o'clock, four feet above the danger point, and the rivers were rising steadily. Rain was falling throughout the westernwatershed, and every stream in western Pennsylvania assumed the proportions of a raging torrent.

In the Pittsburgh district 100,000 were idle, the workmen having been driven from the manufacturing plants by high waters. Ten miles of streets were converted into canals. In parts of the North Side the streets were under twelve feet of water. The policeboats patrolled the flooded district, carrying coal and food to families marooned in the upper floors of their homes.

Pittsburgh's suburbs down the Ohio were all partly inundated. Ambridge, Woodlawn, Sewickley, Coraopolis and McKees Rocks residents were forced to desert their homes or take to the upper floors.

Downtown the pumps were working in most of the hotels, theatres and office buildings. Business was nearly at a standstill. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of store goods was ruined. The Exposition Music Hall was holding four feet of water.

No trains were running to the flooded regions. At least a score of railroad bridges had been destroyed, and miles of tracks carried away. The railroad damage contributed largely to the estimated total damage of $50,000,000.

TOLL OF THE FLOOD AT SHAMOKIN

In Central Pennsylvania, especially along the Susquehanna, the flood gripped many towns. At Shamokin mountain streams overflowed their banks, and in some instances water flowed down mine breaches and found its way to the lowerlevels of collieries. Mine pumps were run to their greatest capacity to prevent inundations. The Shamokin Creek, in Shamokin Valley, overflowed its banks in the lowlands and spread over acres of ground on either side of the creek channel.

COLUMBIA AND MARIETTA FLOODED

More than three inches of water fell at Columbia in a period of twenty-four hours. All the streams overflowed and much damage was done. Trains on the Columbia branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad ran through eighteen inches of water. The storm was accompanied by high winds, which unroofed scores of buildings.

At Marietta, after a storm reported as the worst in many years, the flood situation was grave. The river rose high, fields were flooded and residents on Front Street were obliged to move to second stories. Two men upset in a boat along the York County shore while after ducks were drowned.

DESTRUCTION AND DAMAGE IN MINING TOWNS

Many of the mining towns in Pennsylvania were distressed by unprecedented floods. At Scranton the Lackawanna River overflowed its banks in various places. Richmond No. 1 and No. 2 collieries and the Delaware and Hudson "slope" colliery in North Scranton were compelled to shut down by reason of the water flooding the engine rooms. The Ontario and Western tracks at Providence and the Delaware and Hudson tracks at Dickson City were washed out. Water surrounded the Frisbie and the Bliss silk mills in Dickson City and the girls were marooned for the night.

Six hundred people living on "Hungarian Flats," in the northern end of the city, became panic-stricken when water broke through the streets, and, taking their cattle and household goods, they fled to the hills at Throop.

At Wilkes-Barre the Susquehanna reached the flood stage. The water went over the lowlands on the west side and Wilkes-Barre was cut off from many of its suburban towns, all traffic being stopped. The towns of Edwardsville, Kingston, Westmoor and West Nanticoke were partly under water. Five hundred families were driven from their homes and forced to seek safety. The water rose so rapidly that it was necessary to rescue women and children in rowboats. Considerable damage was done to property, but there was no loss of life.

In Westmoor, Edwardsville and West Nanticoke the water reached the first floors of the buildings. Families were compelled to depart and leave their furnishings to be damaged by the water.

As a result of heavy rains the water rose high in many of the mines of the Hazleton region. Railroad men were warned to be on guard for washouts.

The Beaver Brook and Hazle Mountain mines closed on account of high water. The mules were removed from the Ebervale, Harleigh and Beaver Brook workings.

At Shenandoah the storm that raged for two days did untold damage to the mines. At Kehley Run Colliery the water main that supplies the boilers with water was washed away and the colliery was compelled to shut down. The fires werehurriedly drawn, thereby preventing an explosion. At Bast Colliery, near Girardville, the water rushed into a mine breach and flooded the workers. It was with difficulty the miners escaped.

Electric-light, telephone and telegraph wires were down in Shenandoah, and many homes in the lowlands were flooded. The trolley and steam roads were hampered by the heavy rains, and in many places tracks were washed out.

Heavy floods caused the entombment of six men at the Buck Run Colliery, at Mount Pleasant, and a rescuing party worked up to their necks in water to get the men out alive. The softness of the earth caused the sagging of a breast, which was followed by a sudden rush of water, cutting off the escape of the entombed men.

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