Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-05-02
LOUISIANA UNDER WATER.
The Great MOrganza Levee
Gives Away.
Thousands of Miles of Planta-
tons Inundated,


4 dlSpatch from New Orleans La
save: The disaster that has hon -;
Ii,, f H. AL
~ past month mas
occurred. mere mas been a serious break
il the MOrganZa levee, the most i'm
portant dyke in the State
The great heroic srrupr1rIa il oval, avI -
general surrender has been mad oh aIorc-
The line.
After Il desperate effort to save Rav0u
Sara from the food. a surrender was mad
to he great Father of Waters y-ban +ho
guards reported that the IpVpa Ia r,i-ar, NO.
at the foot Of Fountain street ! (,o,aroI
alarm was sounded and the ,aC,,la ,as,,C1,iJ
promptly 10 the call The hraal 80 800
bat On examination it vas found that the
rising river was running over the front
Ipg-e
Every imnromDtu boat and raft va
brought into reluisitio0 Lant,,ns I.,r,I 10
seen everywhere and the cries Of
men, women and children attempt
u- to save their effects w..
heard on every side Not ? ho;sa in 4r,t,,,,
had escaped The beautiful Fisher RmiIdin.r
th. home Of Mayor Irvine ,l1noosaJ r. h. h.
the highest point in town. was HDodnd
NDfhiu.~ fU1 rhaYs and da.+r,,o+;l,r, l..
tA.eye the Tayior lavr. has (rZ,nn
The first serious 5r-s!, in the lazraes ~ +I,.
vicinity Df Eatctez Miss or.olrr..? VIII,
twenty-five feet Oh the Lake C0uc0rlia }avaa
gave way at the Helena plantation The
water swept through with irresistible force
and the pinDankrnrnt continued ~ ,,.,,r,ii[
until, at in the evening, the oDenina was
$50 feet wide and ten o.. twelve feet decf
The water from the break has flooded all
the lower portion of C0ncordia parish
In Pointe CouDee and West Baton Romeo
5000 men had been at work for several DAYS
strengthening the Ievees, and at Bayon Sara
probably 20, 900 more had been irving to hold
the line of dikes. but the rain and wind storm
coupled with the high water overthrow ali
these preparations, and in twentv-four hours
no less than fifteen breaks occurred
But the greatest disaster occurred later in
the dav when the Morganza Ievee gave wav
This news naturally caused the greatest con-
steruaton, because Morganza protects a
large portion of Southern Louisiana. It
is one Of the finest levees on the MississiDni
with 2OO-foot base and from fifteen
to thirty feet high constructed Jointly
by the United States and the state
of Louisiana 1t cost close to $3.50, 900 The
break will severely affect Pointe CouDee
West Baton Rouge Iberville St Landry
Assumption, st. Martins. St Mary. Iberia
and Terre Bonnie Parishes, and $500 or 1000
square miles, with between 40 900 or 1000
inhabitants, will be more or less affected bv
the overflow.
The country is planted in sugar cane and
similar crops which are DESTROYED by over
flows if under water ten DAYS. The amount
of loss will depend upon the duration of the
food. but it will certainly mount well
up in the millions Back of this
levep there are a number of settlements
the ridge or highlands An ugly
break followed at Myrtle's Grove planta-
ton forty miles below BavOu Sara
on the plantation of Congressman Wilkin-
son, and one that it is scarcely possible to
close. A number of other breaks h1t of
smaller extent, We're reported at St Sophie.
Jesuit's Bend Point a la Hache and at
MARTINEZ Place, ten miles below Baton
rouge to which relief was sent at once.
The suffering in Pointe Coupee was terri
bic. 1t was reported that people were re-
sorting to trees for safety Skiff loads of
people were passing through inundated
streets seeking safety on the hills They GER
talnly make sad and gloomy procession,
women, children. babies and dogs: thew tell
the same tales of woe and destruction. The
situation in Bayou Sara is frightful; not
house in town is above the fooc.
At New Orleans the east winds that have
prevailed drove the water from the Gulf of
Mexico into the lake This, Joined to the
water from the Nita crevasse, equal to one
NTH OF the whole volume of the Mississippi,
raised the food level of the lake and the