Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-01-20
DISASTROUS FLOODS
Great Damage to Property

Great Damage to Property
E RAILROAD AND TELEGRAPH coMMU
NIcATioN CUT OFF
- RAILROAD ACCIDENTS!
A heavy fall of rain commenced in thi'
- locality on Sunday evening, and contin
: ued in torrents all night, swelling the
streams in the vicinity to greater dimen
y sion than probably has eyer been known
before, and Occasioning most disastrous
= flood. Paint Greek is said by old citizens
to have been IL inches higher on Monday
and Tuesday than ever before within their
u recollection, and reports come from all
parts of the county Of the highe,t waters
and the most damaging results ever known
All the lands along TIE different streams
in this vicinity were ovcrfowed aud ey,
erYthing swept off. Bridges and levees
badly injured, and some of the turn.
pike roads damaged to great extent by
water flowing over them, On some farms
nearly all the fencing was swept off, and
a great deal Of corn carried away We
have heard of n number of farmers losing
from 100 to 1000 shocks of corn EACH
Some stock was drowned. The loss is
very heavy. One bridge known as tie
DobbinS bridge, on cross road in the
northern part of the county was carried
away, The new bridge on the Good Hope
road near Manley's Mill was forced out of
position little, but can be righted with
out great deal of expense. The levee on
each side Of it was considerably washed.
The levee at the bridge near the BucoO
farm was also injured and lsvee on the
Staunton road Most all of the turupikes
have suffered some by washing. The storm
seems to have been pretty general in this
part of the State but we are unable to
learn much of its extent, as railroad and
telegraphc communications are almost en-.
tirely cut off But one nail has arrived
here this week. The mail train from the
East arrived on Monday and went on as
far as Wilmington, but was unable to get
further on account of a bridge being gone
On Tuesday evening the bridge over Rat
tlesnake was strained out of position and
several hundred feet of railroad track
washed out, so that communication West
ward was entirely cut off (the telegraph
not working) until yesterday, when an en-
gine came through from Wilmington -
They report six bridges gone between
Wilmington and Morrow. The flood
seems to have been more severe West of
us than here.
The railroad bridge near the Cemetery .
went down on Monday night with a con
struction train on it, loaded with timber
designed for repairing bridges west of
here, The engineer felt the bridge tremb-
ling as the engine came upon it, and i'm
mediately put on all the steam possible,
in the hope.of running across before the !
bridge fell. The train consisted of several
platform cars and caboose in which
were several men. The sudden start of
the engine whel steam was put on broke t
the coupling of the caboose and left it on t
the other side Of the creek, while the en- G
gine darted across, dragging the other
cars with it and landing them on this I
side although in mixed up condition.
On Tuesday night another construction
train which had left Lancaster for this il
place with the understanding that the \
bridge which had gone down the night o
before was on the West instead of the il
East side of Washington, came tearing fc
along at full speed until within a short 7
distance of the broken bridge, when the
engineer discovered the caboose Of the In
irst train standing on the track, and the Sc
hought flashed through his mind that the 81
langer was there instead of on the other m
ide of town. The train was under full
eadwaY and only short distance from
he creek. It was impossible to stop the ~
rain, and all that could be done was for
he engineer to reverse his engine and
imp from the train, which he did, with or
he fireman and one or two others who y
,ere on the train, in time to save them. -
elves, and the train went on striking the v,
nbooSe and landing it on the opposite '"'
--..-l-, N, ab
condition.
No person was injured in either of the ac- lea
dents, The Railroad Company suffers in
very heavy loss in consequence of the fes
BOD, and it will require a great deal of
oney and time to put the road in good we
inning condition again. The Circleville Ore
'idge, which has always been considered ed
e most dangerous on the road, has not #
en injured by this freshet, and we have hat
ard of no damage on the road East of or
g CemetarY bridge at this place. kel
The Little Miami and Marietta roads ski
e reported to be in about as bad condi- =
N as this line, but as no mails have ar day
red we can give no particulars of the do 4 I
90 of the flood anywhere except in our arf
IN vicinity. e4 sill
500