The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-02-15
THE FLOODS.
Great Havoc Along the Towns Of the
Ohio River.
Loss of Life and Immense DAMAGE to
ProDe ty

The havoc wrought last year by heavy
rains and rising waters has been repeated this
year in the Ohio valley. A number of lives
have been lost and millions of dollars worth
of property has been destroyed. A Wheeling
(W. Va dispatch says:
One-half of the city is submerged, from
1000 to 1000 people are homeless, and the
loss in money will reach from S750,000 to
S1000,000. When daylight this morning
revealed a thirty sixfoot stage it was evil
dent to all thai a flood of unprecedented
proportions was at hand, ad the
thousands who were exposed to mum
dation at once commenced active
preparations to place merchandise and
household effects in place of safety. The
water was rising at the rate of foot per
hour, and as the hours went by and the
boiling muddy torrent increased steadily and
persistently, the excitement of the early
morning gave way to panic, increasing as
noon was reached.
Thousands have been driven from home
and are crowded Unfortunately together
i'll private residences, hotels and market
houses, or are walking the streets without
any shelter whatever Wheeling Island
comprising about 500 acres and containing
population of 400, is entirely under water,
and the loss there alone is S4OO, 900. Hundr DIS
of warehouses in the business part of the
town are deluged, and streets in the higher
salt, oil and nails bales of prints and dry
goods, and all the miscellaneous merchan~
disc of a city of 5000 inhabitants Citizens
of all classes and pursuits are on the verge
of despair Rain has fallen continuously for
sixty hours. and from five to seven feet more
water is looked for. This will raise the stage
to fifty two feet and will drive additional
thousands from their houses and cause
further loss of millions of dollars. Sew
eral lives have already been lost here and in
the surrounding towns. From Bellaire,
Bridgeport, West Wheeling and Martins
Ferry, Ohio, and Fulton, Welsburg, Ben
wood and MOundsville, w. Va, heartrend-
ing accounts of suffering come. Some of
these towns are entirely submerged, West
Wheeling, for example, not having a solitary
home out of tn water Within radius OF
fifteen miles $1,000 people are homeless, and
the loss will reach S5,00O,0J0.
The river at Wheeling, ordinarily but GOD
feet wide, is now swollen to n mile and a
quarter, and this will give some faint idea of
the havoc and ruin wrought. Many streets
lined with handsome residences and tasteful
grounds can be navigated by steamboats,, and
one filled with ice and heavy drift-wood
whirled along by five-me cur.
rent. No trains have left or arrived
since noon, and all the railroad tracks are
far under water. Reports of narrow escapes
of disasters to property and suffering to
people, especially the poorer classes, are con-
stantly coming in, but several days must
elapse before anything Ike full and anthem
tic information can be gathered. Deaths by
drowning are reported from several out-of
town points.
A Louisville Ky.) dispatch says: The
river here up to ten o'clock tonight has
risen to within eight feet of the highest point
last year, and all the front of the river is
submerged The rain has been falling
steadily all day, but the downpour is lighter.
All Of the shipping in port and half of Port
land suburbs are fooled, and 400 families
have been compelled to move out of
them. All business was suspended,
and every vehicle that could be
pressed into the service was in demand The
city is being searched, and shelter is &C
cepted wherever it can be obtained Those
who cannot obtain rooms are moving into
sheds and stables. The old exposition build
ing owned by the government for custom
house site, will be prepared by the city
authorities as a refuge. 1t will accOmmo-
date 5000 people comfortably. Other halls
and buildings have been secured capable of
sheiterIng all the sufferers who may need it.
y Marietta Ohio dis ,atch says: The city
has been plunged into the depths of mourning
to-day by terrible disaster, the result of the
high water. a large number of people were
standing on the banks of the Muskingum
river, watching the drifts on the surface,
when the bank on which they were standing
gave way, and large part of the crowd was
thrown into the river. Those who did not
fall in were overcome with panic, and
many children We're carried away hv
the swift waters before an effort could
be made to save them. 1t is thought at least
fifteen persons We're drowned The town is
almost completely overfiowed, and hundreds
Of families have abandoned their homes,
moving away in some cases with only what
they could carry. The river has reached
forty-five feet and reports from above con
firm the belief entertained that the present
food will be without parallel
From Cincinnati, Columbus and Pittsburg,
and other points along the Ohio, came SINH
lar tales of disaster by the rising waters. re-
sultlng in immense damage to property of
every description and untold suffering to
the inundated people, thousands of whom
have lost their all