The Evening critic., 1883-02-05
THE STORMS AND FLOODS.


Great Destruction of Property.
A snow storm began in the Northwest on
Friday and continued throughout Satur-
day, extending over Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Northern Illinois and Indiana. The run.
ming of trains on the Northwestern rail
roads was greatly impcded and OH many of
them practically abandoned. In Illinois,
Indiana and in portions of Ohio the snow
turned into sleet, which clung to the tele-
graph wires and broke them down. AT l
O'Clock on Saturday afternoon only one
wire of the Western Union lines between
Chicago and New York was working. The
lines of the Baltimore & Ohio Telegraph
Company from New York and Washington
TO the West escaped serious interruption.
West of the Mississippi the snow was deep
and the weather extremely cold. Trains
were abandoned on the Laramie Division of
the Union Pacific Railroad and all the
available motive power was hitched to snow
plows to clear the track. 1t is reported that
serious fears are entertained for the live
stock on the ranches in Montana, Wyoming
and Dakota, as the grass is covered with six
inches of snow.
Below the snow belt in Missouri, Illinois,
Indiana and Ohio there were heavy and
continuous rains during Friday night and
Saturday. The streams emptying into Lake
Erie overflowed their banks, and at some
points much damage was done to property.
The Cuyahoga River rose rapidly at Glove
land, and the low ground along the banks
was submerged. schooner was wrenched
from its moorings and thrown against
bridge of the New York, Pennsylvania and
Ohio Railroad, demolishing the draw and
interrupting travel. Further up the river
the flood was more destructive. Nearly all
the factories at Akron, Ohio, were sub
merged. The Akron Hydraulic Company's
new dam was swept away. Railroad tracks
were flooded, and number of families were
obliged to leave their homes and barely es-
capped with their lives. One woman was
drowned.
The damage at Akron aggregates 100000.
The Ohio Canal Company loses probably
100000, and the Valley Railroad Company
$4,000. 1t was feared ON Saturday night
that Summit Lake would be emptcd into
the lower basin, and that the whole city
and valley would be flooded, but hard work
during the whole night prevented the
disaster. The water entered q burning
brick-kin and caused an explosion. Yes
teIday morning the ice and water gorged
near Whitmore Robinson & Co.'S works,
broke suddenly, and three families were
with difficulty rescued. The stream struck
the two mills of Akron Sewer Pipe Com
pany, ipiuring both considerably. All the
families in the Cuyahoga valley and the
northern part of Akron fled from their
houses A bridge on the Pittsburg, Fort
Wayne & Chicago Railroad, between AL
lance and Canton, was washed away.
The town of Bradford, Pa, was visited
Saturday night by a disastrous Hood which
inundated about five hundred houses. The
lower part of the city was submerged in
some cases to the depth of 10 feet. Five
bridges were swept away, and several
houses along the banks of the creek were
badly damaged or totally destroyed. Eighty
five families on the flats between Bradford
and Tarport, living in one-story houses,
had to flee for their lives when the ice
gorge broke, leaving all their effects, and
many of the houses were swept away. 1t
is impossible to estimate the loss at this
time. The waters are now subsiding, and
all fears of further damage are over.