Crawford avalanche., 1894-05-31
FLOODS WILD SWEEP.
KEYSTONE STATE THE SCENE
OF A DELUGE.
Horrors of tho Johnstown Flood May Re
Repeated = winiamsport, Lock Haven
and Other Towns Are Under water-Sev-
eral People Drowned.
Great Damage Doue.

Furious floods have broken loose
throughout Central and Western Penn
sylvania and already great damage has
been done. They are sweeping down
every valley. carrying destruction to
villages, hamlets and cities, and the
loss to property of all kinds will be
enormous. Several people have been
drowned and it is feared that there will
be great loss OF life, as the floods are
the worst that have occurred in this
State since 1889, the year OF
the Johnstown calamity. The beau
tiful city of Williamsport that
suffered so severely in 1889, is threat
ened with destruction, and people fear
that the horrors of five years ago may
be repeated in the Susquehanna Val
ley. Steady rain pouring down for
three days swelled all the streams, and
numerous cloud-bursts along the trib-
utaries OF the Susquehanna River have
caused the streams to overflow their
banks. The great lumber boom near
Williamsport broke. There were l75,-
600, 900 feet OF logs in the boom, and
they rushed down the river and will be
q complete loss.
The Susauehanna River has been
rising steadily according to dispatches.
Nearly the entire business portion Of
Williamsport is under water. The
Western Union Telegraph Office, which
Is situation on comparatively high
ground had three feet of water on the
floor, and the telegraph operators
were forced to abandon their instru-
ments and seek place of safety. Pas
senger trains on the Pennsylvania
Road are only running as far as
Dewart, and no trains are running over
the Northern Central Railroad be-
tween Williamsport and Elmira-
wiliIamsport Under Water.
At one o'clock Monday afternoon the
water in the river had reached height
of thirty-one feet above low water, one
foot highe' than the disastrous Hood
of 1889. The entire city is under water,
which ranges in depth from four to
twenty feet. All the logs of the boom
have been swept away, as well as many
sawmills and houses in the lower part
part of the city. Not a telegraph or
telephone wire is working out of the
city, with the single exception of q
shaky long-distance telephone wire
which was placed at the disposal of
the Associated Press correspondent.
The loss has already reached more
than a million dollars, and, the dis
patch says, unless relief soon comes, 1t
will be three times as much.
The boom at Lock Haven broke and
100000 feet OF logs have been lost.
The Upper Linden boom also broke.
1t contained 10000, 900 feet of logs, and
they have gone down. There are
about l50,000,000 feet OF logs in the
main boom and half as many more in
the city mill-ponds that may go on a
twenty-five foot flood.
There has been no telegraphic COM
munication with Lock Haven since 5
o'clock Sunday afternoon, at which
hour the telegraph operator was driven
from his Office by the rising flood.
The flood there is very high, and be-
tween Bellefonte and Rising Springs
two spans OF one of the railroad bridges
were carried away. There is seven
foot flood in Lycoming creek, and at
Rising Springs the water is eighteen
inches higher than it was in lSSa