One family succeeded in reaching the cellar. The wreckage of the house closed up all access to this little haven of refuge. It was not until forty-eight hours after the storm that the rafters and brickwork could be removed. Two little children were found alive, but their parents were dead. In one instance the entire household was killed with the exception of the mother, who was badly injured.
Several people owe their lives to having been away from home at the moment the storm struck.
One young husband and father, after walking home through the blinding rain from his place of business, found his home torn to the ground. With a force of helpers he worked until long after midnight in search of the bodies of his loved ones, whom he scarcely dared hope were still alive. While the work of removing the wreckage was in progress, the mother and her children arrived on the scene. They had been visiting at a friend's, several blocks distant, and had thus escaped the fury of the hurricane. A passenger train on the Eads bridge had a narrow escape from being blown into the river, and it was only by the tact of the engineer that this calamity was averted.