Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1892-04-13
HEAVY RAINS.
Sudden and Furious Waters De-
scend Upon Rome. Ga.
Making the Second Baptism of the Season
The City Shut I'm on Every Sidc-It
Il Now Assured Fact That
the city viii Build Levees. ~

ROME. Ga April S.-A terrific storm
broke over this city on Tuesday night,
and the rain has since been incessant,
converting mountain streams into
roaring avalanches. The country for
miles around is submerged, and the
whole business portion of the city as
from two To six feet under water.
The suddcnncss and terrible fury of
the storm gave no one warming Cattle,
horses and human beings were carried
down the rivers from points above
Rome. and only the perfect operation of
the weather signal bureau and the tclc-
graphic reports from the mountains
saved the people of Rome from a
total destruction of their property.
Two colorcd men were drowned while
removing lumber in boats Thursday
morning. Beyond these no loss of life
is reported. All communication is
cut of, and there is no getting
in or out of Rome by rail,
and the telegraph wires on the
Marietta and Georgia railroad are
down, and washouts have occurred on
the Richmond and Danvillc and East
Tennessee roads. Thousands of bales
of cotton and merchandise and house
hold effects are piled up on the hill
sides, the people having been at work
for the past twentyfour hours moving
their belongings to places of safety.
The municipal authorities and citi-
zens are responding literally to u sub
scription for the people of the poorer
classes whose houses were flooded, and
it will not be necessary to call for out
side help. The rainfall since Tuesday
night has been about eight inches-the
heaviest in any two days in the history
of the state. 1t has now ceased raining
and Rome presents n Venetian scene,
thousands of people being out in boats
in the principal streets. This is the
second time that Rome is under a bap-
tism of water.
The loss in dollars was a terrible
strain on the pockets of those whose
property was in the flood district. Since
then there have been three tloods-one
in 1883 and two this year, the first one
in last January. The present deluge
does not promise to be quite so costly as
its immediate predecessor, though scores
of merchants, including all the big
wholesale houses and cotton ware
houses hurriedly moved out their
goods to high grounds. Many families
also fled from the water and sought
safety on the hills. These constantly
recurring floods, causing n cessation of
business right in the heart of the city, n
temporary but unpleasant and costly
breaking up of homes, "A stoppage of
trains, mails and traffic, have at last
aroused the citizens of Rome to Il
realization of the fact that they have
been paying too dearly for the
whistle in the form of boating
about the streets and eXcusable hilari-
ty, and so Thursday afternoon the
largest meeting of leading and repre-
sentative citizens of the town ever held
in its history gathered in the city hall
for the purpose of putting into imme-
date operation the law enacted by the
last legislature authorizing the building
of levees. The levees will be built.
That is an assured fact Rome will
probably shake hands with her last
flood when this one creeps out of her
streets.