The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado Part 20

BIG RESERVOIRS THREATENING

The Grand Reservoir at Celina, Ohio, in the extreme western part of the state, seriously threatened Celina and the adjacent towns. For two days the very worst was feared, but on March 28th, the river was slightly lower and no water was flowing over the banks.

OLENTANGY RIVER A LAKE AT DELAWARE

The Olentangy River, ordinarily only a creek, became a lake that covered most of Delaware. In many places people were left clinging to trees, roof-tops and telegraph poles crying for a.s.sistance. The work of rescue was practically impossible because of the swift current of the flood, and most of those who were seen trying to save themselves were swept away to death.

The village of Stratford, five miles to the south, was entirely under water and the loss great. Property damage in Delaware itself was estimated at $2,000,000.

FLOOD AT SPRINGFIELD

Springfield suffered the worst flood in its history. Both Buck Creek and Mad River broke from their banks and flooded the lowlands. Several hundred houses in the eastern section of the city were surrounded by water. They contained families who refused to abandon their homes. Many factories were compelled to close.

There was no loss of life, but intense suffering due to insufficient food supply and the destruction of many homes.

NEW RICHMOND UNDER WATER

The flooding of the Ohio in the southwestern part of the state caused disaster in many other towns besides Cincinnati. On April 1st the entire town of New Richmond was under water. The people took up quarters on the hills surrounding the town. Provisions were received from Batavia and there was no suffering. No one was reported dead or missing.

At Moscow, near New Richmond, fifty houses were washed from their foundations.

CHAPTER XI

THE FLOOD IN NORTHERN OHIO

YOUNGSTOWN AND GIRARD--CLEVELAND AND ITS SUBURBS--AKRON--Ma.s.sILON, FREMONT AND TIFFIN.

No section of the country suffered more extensively from the flood than Ohio, of which state no part seemed to escape. In the northern counties the loss of life and damage to property were quite as extensive as in many other parts.

Fed by incessant rains, the Mahoning River rose at the rate of seven-eighths of an inch per hour until it reached a stage of twenty-five feet, which was ten feet higher than ever before recorded.

Every large industrial plant in the city was flooded and fully 25,000 workmen were out of employment.

The financial loss to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, Republic Iron and Steel Company, Carnegie Steel Company and other plants easily reached $2,500,000, while the loss in wages to men was extremely heavy because of the fact that weeks elapsed before the industries were again able to operate at full capacity. Fully 14,000 workmen employed in various industries of the city are thrown out of employment as a result of the high water.

At East Youngstown the Mahoning River was nearly half a mile wide and the Pennsylvania lines through the city and for a number of miles east were entirely submerged. The Austintown branch bridge of the Erie, which crosses the Mahoning River, was weighted down with a train to prevent its being washed away, the water having already reached the girders.

Every bridge was guarded by policemen.

But one pump was working at the water-works pumping station. The flood was the worst experienced by Youngstown since October, 1911, when millions of dollars of damage was done.

Two hundred families were temporarily homeless, but the Chamber of Commerce with a relief fund of $10,000, attended promptly to their welfare.

Youngstown's only water supply during the flood was from the Republic Rubber Company, pumping 3,000,000 gallons a day, and the Mahoning Valley Water Company, which turned 4,000,000 gallons a day into the city mains from its reservoir at Struthers.

At Girard, northeast of Youngstown, Mrs. Frank Captis, who was rescued just before her home was swept away in the flood, gave birth to a baby boy at the home of a friend, where she was taken. The baby was named Noah.

CLEVELAND AND ITS SUBURBS

At Cleveland scores of families were driven out of their homes by the greatest flood in the city's history. Many narrow escapes from drowning were reported from all over the city, where people were being transferred in rowboats by police and other rescuers.

One big bridge, in the heart of the city, used by the New York Central lines, went down. The steel steamer, "Mack," moored to it was unharmed.

All traffic was kept off the bridge and no one was hurt. The loss exceeds $75,000. Other bridges were in danger. Boats broke from their moorings and battered the sh.o.r.e. Dynamite was used to open a way for the water into the lake. Great damage was done all along the Cuyahoga River through Cleveland, where hundreds of big manufacturing plants are located. Fifty thousand men were idle. The telegraph companies were crippled and many lights were out throughout the city, as the electric-light plants were partly under water. All the suburbs suffered severely.

All railroad traffic in Cleveland was suspended because of washouts and no trains entered or left. The Lake Sh.o.r.e Railroad tracks along the sh.o.r.e of Lake Erie were thought immune, but that road suffered along with the Big Four, Pennsylvania and Wheeling and Lake Erie.

Boston, Ohio, and Peninsula, Ohio, between twenty-five and twenty-eight miles south of Cleveland, on the Cuyahoga River, were submerged.

The dam of the Cleveland and Akron Bag Company went out at four o'clock Thursday morning, March 27th, dropping thousands of tons of water into the valley in which the two villages, with a total population of about four thousand five hundred, are located.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP SHOWING DANGEROUS RESERVOIRS IN OHIO]

AKRON

The big state reservoir three miles south of Akron, which supplies water for the Ohio Ca.n.a.l, broke Tuesday afternoon at two o'clock, sending a flood of millions of gallons of water which swept away farmhouses and other buildings from the banks of the ca.n.a.l and damaged several million dollars' worth of property.

The huge volume of water which had been gathering in the three hundred-acre reservoir caused a report that there was danger of the concrete walls bursting. Most of those living near the ca.n.a.l sought refuge in Akron.

When the heavy rain continued over night the dam began to show signs of wear. Cracks in the concrete appeared. All during the night horses were kept saddled to carry the news ahead if the danger became imminent. When the masonry showed flaws Thursday morning the riders were sent out. They started several hours before the dam collapsed, and warned everybody near the ca.n.a.l in time for them to escape. The rush of water from the broken dam struck the city within a few minutes after the break.

Most of the bridges in the county were swept away. The city was in total darkness at night, and telephone and telegraph connections were destroyed. A few bodies were seen floating down the ca.n.a.l. Many houses were swept away.

Ma.s.sILON, FREMONT AND TIFFIN

At Ma.s.silon five known dead, three thousand homeless, half the town inundated and heavy property damage was the toll of flood water from the Tuscarawas River. The town was without light and gas. Citizens raised $11,000 to aid the sufferers.

The effect of the flood at Fremont was very severe. The water in Main Street was fifteen feet deep. Wires were down and buildings collapsed.

Several lives were lost.

Death and intense suffering marked the great flood which swept clean the Sandusky valley. Tiffin became a city of desolation. Every bridge went down, and half the city was under water. Many were carried to death in the treacherous currents.

CHAPTER XII

THE FLOOD IN EASTERN OHIO

MOUNT VERNON HARD HIT--MILLERSBURG CUT OFF--THE TUSCARAWAS RIVER--COSHOCTON IN DISTRESS--ENTIRE CITY OF ZANESVILLE UNDER WATER--MARIETTA FLOODED--SCIOTO RIVER AT CIRCLEVILLE--STRUGGLES OF CHILLICOTHE--FLOOD AND FIRE IN PORTSMOUTH--HOMELESS IN EAST LIVERPOOL AND WELLSVILLE--FLOOD WASHES STEUBENVILLE--HIGHEST FLOOD IN HISTORY OF GALLIPOLIS--IRONTON REQUESTS AID--A CRITICAL SITUATION.