The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-05-26
PENNSYLVANIA FLOODED.
Destruction Greater and More Bx-
tended than at the Time of the
Johnstown Flood-Railroad Traf-
fic Suspended-Immense Loss of
Lumber-Damage Elsewhere, &c.

|
Lumber-Damage Elsewhere, &c
On the fourth page OF this issue will be found
\ full account OF the disastrous storms in the Yves
last week and below we give synopsis Of the con
tinuation OF the storm east of the Ohio river.
PrTTsBuRG, May 21.-For five days and night
western and central Pennsylvania have been storm
swept Cloud bursts have occurred at differen
points lives have been lost booms have been tori
to pieces, and immense quantities Of valuable
timber scattered.
Many county and railroad bridges have beer
carried away. Miles Of railroad track have beer
either obliterated by extensive andsides washed
away by the floods. From Wednesday morning u
this morning the rainfall in Fittsburg has been 30
inches. In the Allegheny Valley, at Warren, 1t wa
69l inches At Oil City, SOL at Johnstown 43l; in
the Monongahela Valley at Confluence 1t was 2.Sl
at Fairmont Leg; at Lock 4. on the Monongahela, i
was $50; at Rowesburg on the Cheat River, it wa:
5A5 Tonight 1t is still raining at many points ant
further loss is expected.
In some sections the memorable floods of 1889 ant
1891 were surpassed by several feet This was the
case in the Juniata Valley of southern and south
western Pennsylvania and along the west fork o
the Susauehanna River in the northern General
portions Of the State.
The water has not done much damage abou
Plttsburg yet, but by morning it will cause con
siderable loss The Pittsburg and Western tracks in
Allegheny are covered. Traffic between Pittsburl
and Altoona is suspended. the Pennsylvania trains
going around by the Baltimore and Ohio.
At Bradford the heavy rain has ceased, but the
weather is still showery. The loss there is abou
$4,000 No trains on any of the railroads reached
Bradford Today. During the food lime in the
Stacking process caused fire. which burned the
Oil Well Supply Company's warehouse. Firemer
who were engaged in rescuing flood sufferers had
TO turn their attention TO fighting the fire. Thi'
they did standing waist deep in water
At Warren the food was the greatest since 1873
Business was practically suspended, and tonight
the water shows no sign of abating. Row boat,
took the place in the lower part Of the
city. ON the island the water reached into the
second stories of the houses. In the west end fouI
feet of water covers about eight squares The flood
came gradually and the people were pretty well
prepared but unless the stops, the worst is YET
to come.
At Brookville the Allegheny Valley Railroad
bridge was washed away. The Buffalo, Rochester
and Pittsburg tracks are washed out between On
Bots and Punxsutawney, and traffic is suspended
The Philadelphia and Erie road east OF Driftwood
Is flooded. A bridge on the Clearfield and Mahon-
ing near Curwensvile has gone out and traffic on
that line is suspended The lower portion of Free
port is under water and the loss will run into the
thousands The same situation prevails at New
port.
In Allegheny today William Weightman, aged 49,
while trying to capture driftwood from the Ale
gheny lost his balance and fell in, and was swept
away and drowned from near the Allegheny water
works. Hiram A. Glllen. teamster, was drowned
while attempting to ford an overlooked place on
horseback in Sharpsburg.
wILLIAMsPoRT, May 2l.-The great boom here
broke early this morning and 100000 feet of logs
were swept away. The susquehanna river has
risen to thrtythree feet than four feet higher
than at the food ir 1859. The Pennsylvania Rail-
road bridge over the river is standing the pressure
solidly but the city bridges have been badly dam
aged. Four spans of the Market street bridge have
been washed away. and three OF the four spans of
the Maynard street bridge have gone. Both are
iron structures and the loss will be heavy. No
lives lost.
The entire city is under water from four 10 twenty
feet Many sawmills and houses in the lower part
of the city have been swept away. The rain is
coming down. The loss has already reached more
than million dollars and unless relief soon comes
it will be three times the amount.
JoHSsrowN May 2l.-By 2 O'Clock this morning
the Conemaugh was over its banks. The alarm was
sounded by the fire whistles and bells of the city,
and almost all OF the people who live in the neigh
borhood OF the Conemaugh left their houses and
took shelter on higher ground.
The water continued TO rise rapidly, and by 8
O'Clock had reached the highest point since the big
food of May 81. 1889. In many places it was from
six to eight feet over the banks. The loss is yar
ously estimated at from $4,000 to $4,000. The
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, whose tracks fol-
low the river for twenty-five miles above this city,
is perhaps the heaviest loser and its loss is placed
at $4,000.
On the north bank of the river, at the Pennsylva-
mia freight depot is side track built upon an ash
and cinder bank fifty feet above the bed OF the
stream. This embankment was washed outand at 4
O'Clock about 200 feet OF the track fell into the
water, carrying with it four common box cars load
ed with merchandise and palace horse car In
one of the box cars were FIVE tramps. Three sue
ceeded in escaping. but two were drowned.
The greatest damage to houses was within a
stones throw of the Pennsylvania station. store,
owned by Tony George, at the north end of the
Lincoln bridge. was completely swept away with
all its contents. a frame building in the rear of
the Grand Central Hotel. owned by Emanuel
James, was also swept away, the STARTER resi-
dence on the opposite bank of the river. The body
of a food victim foated past the city at noon, but
could not be recovered The large offices of the
Cambria Iron Company and the Gautier steel de-
partment and store of the Pennsylvania Traffic
Company were submerged to a depth OF four feet,
and some valuable books and papers were badly
damaged. The Lincoln bridge was badly damaged
by the floating logs and cars. The bridge at Cam
bra was also wrecked.
Many dwellings In the Second and Thirteenth
wards and in the Woodvale district were swept
away. The dams at Loretto and at Wildwood
Springs broke during the Storm 1t is reported that
so feet OF the Pennsylvania track near bridge No.
6 is washed away.
Hundreds of feet of the stone retaining wall along
the conemaugh has been swept away, entailing
of dollars loss upon the city.
At woodvale a mile below, almost every house
on the main thoroughfare, Maple avenue, was in
undated, and an Oklahoma house, belonging TO a
man named Seymour, was washed away. Another
larger building belonging to Philip Brown, was
torn from its foundation.
READING, May 21.-The city water works are
flooded, and the fires have been drawn. 1t will
take several days before the pumps can be started
after the water subsidies.
The north bound track OF the main line of the
Reading road hal mile north of Mohersville has
been so badly damaged by the food that the COM
pany has decided to abandon its use for the night.
Every preeaution will be taken to guard against ae-
cidents, The river is still rising.
The Pennsylvania tracks above Reading are
flooded to the depth of three feet, and passenger
and freight trains have been abandoned for the
present
Three bridges have been carried away on the
Pine Grove division of the Reading Railroad at
suedberg Stony Creek. and Dauphin, and traffic is
checked. The reports from the coal
regions, especially in the vicinity of Shenandoah,
say that many of the collieries have been flooded
and It may take week TO pump them out. South
of Reading very little damage is reported.
PHILADELPHIA, May 2l.-The flood that has swept
down the schuylkin river all day has been gather
ing strength and volume with each hour, and to-
night the river is raging like mountain torrent
Above the dam at the city water works the river is
wide and it had room to spread over the grass lands
and driveways of Paramount Park, and the damage
there is confined principally to washouts on the
drives.
Below the dam the waters overfiowed the wharves
and backed up into the streets and houses two
squares from the banks. The water is three feet
deep over the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad and two feet of water covers the ground