Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-02-16
THE WESTERN FLOODS.
DISTRESSING SCENES IN LOUISVILLE AND ciN-
c1NNATt-A LARGE PORTION OF BOTH CITIES
UNDER WATER GREAT LOSS or LIFE AND
rrDUrurR


known before in 30 years and tho scenes are
most distressing, especially in the former
city, where q dixie broke Monday and let the
water in on low lands and almost instantly
surrounding some 1000 houses rising even to
the second story windows and surprising the
people in bed. The press dispatches thus
describe the scene at the breaking Of the
dixie:
The dam protecting the low lands in the
eastern part Of Louisville, KY, broke Mon
day night, letting GO feet of water upon 20
blocks Of dwellings, and it is reported that
80 lives were lost but there is no certainty
of this. About II +. NJ the break came and
the cutoff dam was overcome by the terrific
weight of water from above. 1t gave way
instantly and with loud roar the flood
rushed over. The water had fall of IL to
Is feet 10 the low ground beneath. In less
time than it takes to tell it, the yellow tide
was sweeping in from all points. The un-
fortunate people were surprised in their
houses by the water, which swept from square
to square, rapidly rising in houses, carrying
many from their foundation. Tie scene was
awful. The roar Of the water could not
drown the screams of the terrified people
escaping from the dwellings. 1t ia impo5si-
bic to understand why the loss or life was not
larger. People who were sleeping in conf
dencc that the entertainments would shelter
them, were rudely awakened by the flood
coming into their houses Some we're even
surprised in bed. When tho stroke came it
was like lightning In darkness and cold
they fled from death, half clothed and carry
ing children and the helpless. So suddenly
were the unfortunate people overtaken that
the escape of many by the streets was cut of,
and they were compelled to seek safety on the
roofs of their houses, terror.stricken and uu.
able to see in the darkness what was going
on around them. The scene in the morning
was one of general devastation. The roofs
of tho houses were crowded With men, wo-
men and children, shivering in scanty gar.
meRts md waiting to be rescued from their
uncomfortable and perilous positions by men
in sliGs, who worked diligently from carly
dawn to rescue them.
AT CINCINNATI AND ELSEWHERE.
At Cincinnati freight depot, undermined
by the water, gave way Tuesday under a
crowd of people, estimated at 30 and it is
thought that % at least were engulfed by the
food, but this is conjecture, there being hard
ly a certainty that even half-dozen lost their
lives, while it ~ possible that very many
more than p were drowned. Thousands Of
people are homeless, naked and hungry, ami
prompt measures are being taken to give
them relief Distress and loss Of property
are alse reported from many places in Indi-
ana.
The Ohio legislature has passed bill au.
thorizing Cincinnati to borrow 500 600 to
be used in relieving the sufferers. Much
sickness is found among the imprisoned peo-
pile in the tenement-houses and relief boats
are busy visiting all such places. Ample
means are al hand TO prevent suffering. 1t
is estimated that from 30, 900 to 80 900 work
men are out Of employment by the closing Of
the manufactures. No estimate of the prop.
erty damage is made, but the people count it
up into the millions.
On the Kentucky river farms are inundated
and buildings and crops have been carried
of Hundreds of families have been COM
PEELED to leave their homes Lawrenceburg,
Ind, is entirely covered so also is Milton,
Ky. Some of the houses are submerged to
the second story. The entire village Of Har-
dentown, Ind, is covered with water. At
New Albany, Ind, 600 families have been
driven from their homes, many of them with
great loss of property. The suffering is great
and sickness is added to destitution. Tne
embankments of the Jacksonville, Madison
and indianapolis railroad, one mile west Of
JetTersonyile, Ind, broke Tuesday, letting
the back water from the Ohio in upon that
city in an irresistible tide flooding more than
three-fourths Of the town, including all the
business streets.
VILE.
A New York Times correspondent says: Il
secured skill and made a complete tour of
the entire flooded district. The entry from
the river was made by rowing directly over
the roof of a two story frame boarding
house, of which the chimneys alone were
visible. On the left the smoke-stack of an
engine belonging to tue Haroidsburg railroad
was to be seen about two feet above the wa
ter. Five cars on the track behind it were
completely submerged. Here and there
chimney protruded above the water On ov.
cry other chimney was cat yelling with
fright. At Dennis Longs pipe foundry,
where 800 men left their work at 4 o'clock
Monday, expecting to renew it next morning,
there was four feet of water over the floor.
\ little further up a church was reached, of
which the spire and about two feet of the
roof was all that was visible. This church
had served as a check to several dwelling
houses, barns and stables, and eight or ter of
these were heaped up in every manner Of
grotesque shapes behind it. Above the
church, on the left, is Lotteries huge slaugh-
ter house. which was thrown open As q refuge
to the people driven from their homes In
this filthy place no less than 800 women aud
children were huddled together in wet clothes,
hungry and crying pteously for relief. D!-
rectly across from the slaughter house were
found family Of eight-au old woman, the
mother, and six children-cOnfued in gar
ret so low that the children could barely
stand upright, and the water was up to their
knees. Two by two they were taken out and
carried to the slaughter house. The old wo.
man said they had been overlooked by relief
boats, and she tried to tell her feelings as she
saw the water creep up, inch by inch, upon
her with apparently no hope Of relief. Fur
ther on a bridge was met floating down
stream, in the centre of which was a fine AL
derney COW and two pigs. The water-works,
which stand on a high bluff, looked like some
mammoth steamboat standing stationary in
the water. From this point the boat turned
down Fulton street, usually handsome we'll
paved avenue. Now the water was clear
above the lamp-posts, and in the first house
two men were rowing boat into a second
story window to get out furniture. At q cor
ner grocery the proprietor sat astride the
roof, coolly watching for the boxes of vari-
GUS articles which from time to time would
be washed out from below and fishing them
in with long stick. Two squares further
down an entire undergrad afoat was found
moving slowly but Systematically in the di-
rection of the current. The police in this
part of the city were covering their beats in
SOULS, and on the sharp lookout for thieves,
who last night committed many depredations.
swift, and it was with the greatest difficulty
that the boat avoided being swamped several
times.
THE CAUSE OF THE FLOODS.
This paragraph from the New York Sun
conveys a warning which may well be needed
by other states than those in the Ohio Valley:
"This great disaster ought to enforce a vivid
and fruitful lesson on the minds of the people
of this state especially. The reason for this
calamity in the Ohio valley is chiefly to be
found in the destruction of the forests on the
hills of western New York, western Pennsyl-
vania and western Virginia, whence the head
waters of the Ohio are fed. The vast extent
of hill country has been practically denuded
of its trees, and the consequence is that the
heavy SHOWS of the winter, lying unprotected
under the action of the sun and the rains of
this season, instead of being very gradually
melted, as they would have been had the for
ests been left standing, are melted all at once
and rush down into the valley of the Ohio in
an Overwhelming mass. This mighty and
destructive flood of the early spring will prob
ablv he followad durinu the heats nf ann