Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1884-03-28
DESTRUCTIVE STORM
Passes Over Louisiana, Doing Great Dam.
age to Property-The Crevasses Widen
ing, Flooding n Fair and Fertile Coun-
TORRENTS OF RAIN.

TORRENTS OF RAIN.
NEW ORLEANS, March 1S.-A violent
storm of wind, attended with torrents of
rain, swept over Louisiana yesterday from
the Gulf Coast to the State line. There
was good deal of damage done TO proper
ty, and in this city fences and signs were
blown down and buildings unroofed. Some
injury was also done to the shipping in the
port, caused by vessels breaking loose from
their moorings and falling foul of each other,
but no grave disasters occurred, and there
was no loss of life. Public interest was
centered on the river levees, which are
already oppressed by the great weight and
force of the mighty river, which lashes its
barriers, and is constantly eating them away.
Under the influence of the wind, the waves
were driven over the levees at twenty places
along the city's front, and but for the num-
bers of anxious people gathered along the
banks prepared with tools and material
to stop the incipient crevasseS, many
serious disasters would have occurred.
The worst of these was in the parish OF
West Baton Rouge, where serious
break had occurred, and which in spite of
all eXertions was rapidly widening. 1t is
ON the west side of the river, in rich
sugar country. At Alulatto Point, Just
above Bel Sir plantation, crevasse was
discovered in the morning. 1t was rapidly
widening, defyng every eXertion from ex-
peiienced planters to stop it. 1t will inun.
date many miles of country on the west
bank of the river. 1t was seventy-fve feet
wide at dark. The crevasse mt Fashion
Plantation on the west bank, twenty-nine
miles above the city in the parish
of st. Charles, is serious break,
and there is but little hope that it can he
closed at the present high stage OF
water, and in the face of rising river. A
very serious crevasse Is announced in
Orleans parish, on the west bank on the
Fathers place, seven miles below Algiers.
1t was sixty feet wide and ten feet deep,
and will tax the utmost efforts to close it.
Among the minor breaks seven are report
ed in the st. James Parish near the court
house. and two opposite this city, one nj
Freetown ferry, and one near the Texas
Pacific Railroad stock yards. They were
taken i'm time, and will probably be secured
The Davis crevasse, on the west bank, in
st. Charles parish, which broke out last
week and flooded the Morgan and Pacific
railways, is still open, with little or no hope
of stopping it. Steam pile drivers and all
| tliC anu hp tiO WV ioh
! road companies appear to have been en-
ployed in vain, and the work is abandoned
The flood water from the Morganza ere
vase which broke in Point Coupe parish
ON Friday last has reached the Atchafalaya
River, and has flooded that stream on the
West Melville crossing of the Texas Pacific
Railroad, and the railroad track there is
forty inches under water, and the trains are
stopped. The country on the Vicks'
burg Il Shreveport Railroad. on the
Louisiana side of the river, is all
under water, from Delta nearly to
Monroe, distance of seventy miles
The Morganza crevasse is more than 5000
feet wide and is pouring vast river into
the country. AS soon as 1t fills up the
Atchafalaya basin, which receives its floods,
the water will spread over a vast country.
The Mississippi River had risen from nine
to twelve inches yesterday nearly all the
way from Vicksburg down to the mouth of
Red River, and this swell must be expected
to do great damage TO the levees there.
The storm struck Morgan City about ten
o'clock, doing much damage to buildings
and fellces. A frame dwelling belonging to
Nicholas Biglar was completely demolished
Mr.. Biglar's aged mother, wife, and
eight children were in the building
Wncu ~ lclli uut aiilloSt ihiidcuiouSly
escaped with inconsiderable injuries
The new Presbyterian Church wa:
moved from its foundations and con
siderably broken. A church at Burwick
just across the bay, was completely
wrecked, and several small dwellings in
and about Morgan City were blown down
The Morgan steamship and railway build
ing lost large section of its roofing and
the cattle pens were much damaged. The
gale only lasted about fifteen minutes, bu
it blew with great yellemence from the
southwest. The water in the Atchafalaya
rose seventeen inches in six hours.