The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado Part 33

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 ca.n.a.l 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 ca.n.a.l locks and dams.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE 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 t.i.tusville 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 ma.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP SHOWING SOME OF THE PRINc.i.p.aL CITIES AND TOWNS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA THAT WERE FLOODED]

Captain U. G. Lyons a.s.sumed 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.