The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-05-14
THE FLOODS.
Cireumsfantsal AceOunt of the Extent OF
the Damage i'm Louisiana.

4
Cireumsfantsal Account of the Extent Of
the Damage in Louisiana.
From the New Orleans Picavune
Now that the great food may be con.
sidered as having done its worst. and
the occurrences of new crevasses regar-
ded as improbable, it becomes interest
ing to take glance at the nature and
extent of the damage and TO form such
estimates as may be possible of the CON
sequences. Engineers calculate the
quantity of water thrown out on the
state by crevasses to be less than one
half the amount during the great over
How IN 1867, when the break in the
Grand levee took place; yet the damage
to the crops of the state viii be fully
equal to that sustained in 1867, because
of the bad condition of the AtchafsIava
and its levees. But as the records of
the flood OF 1867 are very imperfect and
do not show the velocity of the water at
the crevasses. this estimate is quite un-
certain.
The present crevasses at Hickey's and
| MOrganza levees, and at other places
which throw their waters into the Atch-
afalaya, pass about 200, 900 cubic feet of
water per second, and the average ve-
loelty of the crevasses is about seven
feet per second, equal to four and two
third miles an hour.
/ The break at Morganza levee in 1867
was 5000 feet wide and six feet deep,
with velocity of eight feet pei second,
| equal to a current of four and half
miles an hour.
| The break at Morganza at present is
! 1000 feet wide, 6 feet deep, and the We
locity is 81 feet per second, equal to
current of 81 miles an hour.
The Hickey crevasse is 10 feet deep,
1,5OO feet wSde, and has a velocity of IA
feet per secC4d, which is equal to cur
rent of 81 miles an hour.
From some Of these creVasses the rich
districts of Eafourche, Terrebonne and
Attakapas, the largest, most fruitful
and most populous rice and sugar re-
glOns of Louisiana, are overfowed.
Though lying far distant from the river,
they are subject to its misfortunes, and
thousands upon thousands of acres are
now being slowly but surely submerged
by the waters flowing through the
Hickory and MorgaBza breaks.
We have already sho n that the en-
tire Ouachita Valley is under water. 1t
would be difficult now to estimate the
number of acres covered, but it is
known that the whole population is
drowned out, and that from one end of
heAlANy " buG Ogl6I ELlB GlLlGEu5 are Nv /
ing on RATS and the tOpsof their houses. |
This extract of a letter just received |
from Monroe gives further confirmation |
of the gloomy story: Everything at a |
standstin up here. Pargoud's upper |
and lower levee broken. Monroe sur |
rounded by a sea of water can go no |
where except In boats. Trenton entirely |
under. The river higher than ever |
known. Twelve inches above the high /
water mark of 1928"
In the imperfect information before |
us with regard to the number of planta- |
tions destroyed and injured by the food |
we cannot give an exact statement, yet, |
after careful examination of all the re-
ports on the subject, and referring to |
Mr.. Bouchereau's sugar book and the |
map of Louisiana, we submit the fol- /
lowing Gs an approximation:
Our information from Concordia par /
ish shows. considerable loss. The par /
ish of AYoyelles and a small part of /
Rapides as high as Oheneyville, have /
suffered from the overflow of Red river /
and the Glesscoek erevasso GA the Mis- i
sisippi. These parishes are chiefly cot /
ton districts, yet there are meny large
sugar plantations which are hurt.
In Pointe Coupee parish there was in
cultivation last year forty-two sugar
plantations. Two-thirds of them being
situated fronting on the Mississippi,
we may estimate the partial damage to
One-third and ruin to One-ffth.
As we are now taking an account of
the sugar plantations, we come next in
to the parish of West Baton Rogue.
In this parish we estimate, of the thir-
ty-tive or forty sugar plantations In cul-
tivation, one-half the number under wa
ter and one-fOurth badly or slightly
damaged.
East Baton Rogue has been damaged
by the McCullen crevasse, which IS
about three miles below the town of
Baton Rouge. In this parish about
thirty sugar plantations are reported
badly damaged--the greatest part of
them more than half submerged.
All the east bank of the Bayou Teche,
in the parishes of St. Landry, ST. Mar
tirs, Iberia, st. Marys and all the coun-
try situated on Grand lake and Lake
Verret comprising the most productive
regions of the state, are overflowed.
The number of sugar plantations IN Gull
tivatiOn, damaged in this region, cannot
be readily estimated, but may be set
down at ene-fourth of those in cultiva-
tion-the number in cultivation being
over three hundred. The water in this
region is rising six inches day.
Assumption viii also suffer severely
the crevasse waters are rising rapidly,
and if the overflow extends to the Bayou
Lafourche the damage to sugar planta-
tions Will be immense.
The foregoing remarks are confined
to the State of Louisiana and to the su-
gar interests of the state but the cot
ton and rice planting interests have to
be considered also.
If we undertook to examine the cot
tan interests, it would be necessary to
begin the examination of the overhowed
from above Memphis, and all
the tributaries of the Mississippi in the
southern country.
The sugar crop of Louisiana viii
probably be cut short one-third by the
floods, and the cotton viii no doubt be
300, 600 bales by the foods and
rains up to the present date. By the
time the waters subside and the ground
becomes dry enough to plant cotton, it
viii be too late TO make crop with any
of success.
This is a gloomy picture, but it is
true one. We are appealing to the
country for succor under misfortunes
which we ourselves are powerless to
meet. 1t is we'll that the country should
know to what extremities we have been
A Steamboat in a Tornado
A New Orleans paper of a recent
date describes a disaster in the follow
H.,