Huntsville gazette., 1884-02-16

Continued Rains Increase the Volume Of
Water, Spreading Destruction and Deso-
1ation in its Path-Reports from Various
Points Indicating the General State Of
Affairs.
CINCINNATI, O., Feb. 10.
The flood of 1882 was surpassed at one
o'clock this morning, and the river has
been rising almost constantly all day.
There is hardly a shadow of doubt that the
mark of last year will be reachad and
passed within the next thirty hours. In
deed, at eight O'Clock tonight the prospects
decidedly indicate a more rapid rise to-
night than during the day, for, in addition
to reports of continuous rises at points
above, rain has been falling steadily since
four O'Clock. 1t is not heavy, but persist
ent enough to indicate an all-night rain.
The same condition exists at Ripley and
Maysville, fifty and sixty miles up the
river. The rain, if it continues all night,
will exert decided influence on the stage
of water here, as side streams will be pour
ing in additional floods.
CINCINNATI, Midnight, Feb 10.
The stage of the river is 65 feet AZ inches.
Brisk rains falling. The water-works' de-
partment will order all the hydraulic ele-
pumping engine is the only one that can
work in this stage of the flood Sixty-six
feet ten inches will stop it, and the reservoir
has five days supply in it.
GALLIPoLIs, o., Feb. TO-
The river is rising three-fourths of an
inch per hour. 1t is raining heavily at 3
p. m. The water is now seven feet above
the high water of last year. The steamer
Telephone went to the relief of Point Pleas
ont tn hot &C. ,,,11a oil h
merged. The inhabitants have gone to
high ground. Cheshire, Addison and 9TH
er small towns are suffering in the same
way.
WHEELING, w. VA, Feb. 10.
The river has receded more slowly than
expected, and part of the city and country
above and below are still under water,
though the inhabited portion for the most
part is dry. The disappearance of the wa
ter reveals the extent of the ravages of the
flood and the sight exposed to the eye to-
day is indeed disheartening. Huge rocks,
board piles, trees, driftwood and small
shantles cover parts of many streets and
hundreds of large houses and barns are
gathered at points where the surface of the
water was obstructed by trees. Fifty
houses are jammed upon and against each
other at the south end of the city. The
Baltimore and Ohio track between here and
Benwood was covered with buildings and
drift which were pulled to pieces by en-
gines to clear the track.
A bottle was found to-day with the names
of four young ladies, said to be drowning
at the time the card was written. As no
body knows the persons, they are believed
fq have been ese t those from point g2t66ss
farewell, friends" and the names of An
ME Clark, Mollie Scage, Minnie Hawk and
Bernie RABBIT.
The first mail since Wednesday, four
tons, has arrived. Boats and few trains
on the roads least damaged have opened
communication with the outside world. All
the blankets in the city have been distrib-
uted to homeless sufferers. There is great
scarcity of bed clothes. Country people
on both sides of the river are doing their
utmost to supply the needy with provi-
sions. Wagons loaded with provisions are
arriving here and at Benwood, Bellaire,
Bridgeport and Martins Ferry, all day,
from points as far back as twenty miles
south. Probably 10000 people are to be
fed and clothed from Wellsburg to Mounds
vile.
LOUISVILLE, KY, Feb. 10.
At 10:30 p. m. the river was forty feet
five inches in the channel and rising slow
ly. 1t has risen two inches since two p. M.
1t has been raining steadily all day and is
raining now. 1t is moderating slightly.
The general situation is unchanged both
here and at New Albany and Jeffersonville.
The rainfall here to-day was 81. The rain
fall since los a. m. Monday was 6.3S. The
rainfall since two O'Clock this afternoon
was half an inch.
vICKsBURG, MISS, Feb 10.
The rapid rise in the river at all points is
causing great uneasiness and much alarm
in this section. A telegram was received
to-day by Captain. w. L. Marshall, United
States engineer, in charge of this district,
from the Office of the chief engineer at
Washington, inquiring concerning the ap-
preaching flood, and asking the condition
of the Louisiana levees from the State line
to Red river, and the expected height of
the food. Itwas answered by Captain. Mar
shall that it was feared that the water
would attain such height as to seriously
threaten the levees, but that all gaps in the
Louisiana levees, from Ashton to Vicks-
burg, are closed, except gap formed by
cave at Judge Montgomery's, four miles
below Lake Providence. Here a ''run
around" is being built by the State of
Louisiana, but the work is rather back
ward.
The United States engineer in charge of
the district states that if the State authori-
ties are not prevented by contractors from
receiving such assistance, he will take the
responsibility of it at once, placing force
upon this crevasse if needed. Information
was received at the engineers office here
to-day to the effect that the Opossum Fork
leyee in Arkansas, for want of sufficient
means, will not, it understood, be in con-
dition to withstand as high water as last
year, over 100000 cubic yards being still
required to complete that levee to one foot
above the high water of 1882.
The main gap in that important line, how
ever, will be closed, and the quantity Of
water inundating Northern Louisiana will
be much reduced. The levees in the Second
Mississippi district are in better condition
than ever before in the history of the levees
in this State, but the head of the Yazoo
basin is still open in the Upper Mississippi
district. The water is now flowing into the
st. Francis basin and will begin to inun-
date the lowlands in the Upper Mississippi
district at about thirty-three feet on the
Memphis gauge at Lewisburg swamp in
Coahoma County, below Friars' Point, and
at numerous places in Coahoma, DE Soto
and Tenoa Counties about the same stage.
At present rates it will be several days or
a week before the river will begin to infiict
any damage, as the rise will not reach the
Upper Mississippi district much before that
time.
WAsHISGToN, D. c., Feb 10.
A meeting of Congressman from Ohio,
Kentucky and West Virginia was held to-
day to take steps to secure an immediate
appropriation for the relief of sufferers by
the food in the Ohio Valley. Senator Sher-