The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-21
MISSISSIPPI RAGING MADLY.
NO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER IN
THE FLOOD SITUATION.

An Area Equal to That of the state |
of Missouri Now Under Water ana
Che Worst of the Flood Not Reach
ed Yct-Lives Lost, stock Drowned
and the Country DesOInte--A Flat
boat Containing a Number OF Peo-
pie Reported Sunk Mt Island No.
10.
st. Louis, Mo-, March 20.-The warning
sent out by the government signal service
yesterday that the Mississippi river and
all its tributaries would continue to rise
has been fulfilled to the letter. Communi-
cation with the flooded section has been
difficult, but dispatches received from
widely separated points show that ell
have suffered alike. 1t is estimated that
a section Of country with an area equal
to that OF the state of Missouri is now
under water, and that the worst is not
over. Advces from Cairo. Paducah, Mem
phis and Helena show that the region be-
ginning north of New Madrid, Mo- west
to and including the valleys of the st.
Francis, the White and the Arkansas riv-
ers in Arkansas, east in Kentucky and
Tennessee, the valleys Of the Tennessee,
and south to the Red river are under
water. The intervening ranges of hills
and high ground are the only places Of
refuge. The dispatches received here tell
but one story-lives lost, stock drowned
and a country desolated.
At Cairo, Ill, to-day, the river reached
| 500 feet and is rising slowly, which is but
one foot short of the high record Of 1888.
All the country south of there to Memphis
is submerged.
A relief steamer from the flats below
| Birds Point brought In four families.
1t is reported that fiat boat containing
a number of people was sunk at Island No.
10
All the cotton fields in the valley of
Forked Deer river in Tennessee are un-
| der water
The Memphis Relief Association has five
boats at work. These boats go to points
that are some 20 miles from streams navi-
| gable in the ordinary stages of the water.
The unanimous opinion of st. Louis river
men is that conditions must become worse
| before there can be permanent relief.
| They say that numerous breaks in the
| lower leVees are really blessings as they
are natural outlets for the deluge, that is
certain to come from the melting SHOWS
| OF the north.
Princeton, Ind, March O.--On account
| of the rapidly rising waters, people are
| deserting the Wabash Patoka and White
river bottoms and making all possible
| haste to the hills Many of the unfortu-
| mates have no boats and are compelled to
wade in water from one to two feet deep
One poor fellow waded in water up to his
waist several miles, carrying his wife in
his arms, who was dying with malarial
fever.
Omaha, Neb., March 20.-The general
| thaw of the past week has started the
| ice in the Logan and Elkhorn rivers and
| towns along their banks have been threat
ened with foods, but only two of impor-
tance have been seriously damaged.
Pender, on the Logan river is tonight
partly submerged, and Norfolk, the sugar
beet factory city of Madison county, is
in several feet Of water.
| While the Missouri river Is very high,
| the danger point has not been reached.
| At Norfolk, thousands of dollars worth
of damage has been done. All the business
portion of the city is under from three to
| six feet of water. The newspaper presses
| in the city are under four feet Of water
and publication is suspended. The OXnard
| hotel is completely surrounded by water.
/ An1Q0GlS
the Chicago st. Paul. Minneapolis and
| Omaha railroad yards, and freight cars
are badly piled UP.
At Elk Point, s. D., the Missouri river
has broken up and risen 10 feet in the last
ten hours The Sioux river has risen "A
feet in the last thirty-four hours. The ex-
| Danse of water is four miles wide Many
| families have been driven from their
| homes The Milwaukee track is washed
| out for about three thousand feet, and It's
span bridge across the Sioux river is gone.
| Within twenty hours the Big Sioux has
risen to such hight at Flandreau, S. D.,
| that the highest bridges In the country are
impossible. The river is now rising at the
rate of an inch every fifteen minutes.
st, Paul, Mimi, March 2O-The great
northwest continues a victim to rising wa
ters. and the damage financially is very
large The railroads are the principal
sufferers from washed out tracks and
bridges.
Reports received tonight from points
| in Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Da-
kota indicate a further rise in the riv-
ers. due to melted snow, which has been
unusually heavy in depth this winter.
All the low portions of Fond du Lac,
Wis. are under water, with the Fond du
Lac river rising rapidly An ice gorge
at the St. Paul railroad bridge is being
dynamited and otherwise worked" by
| hundreds OF men, put 10 ySl lhpEebhd-
BILE.
At Elroy, wis, the Baraboo river has
flooded the fats and residents are using
row boats to get out of their dwellings.
Trains on the Omaha railway have been
abandoned and the iron bridge is threat
ened with destruction.
In Minnesota water is everywhere Red
wing reports Hay creek out of its banks
and rising. Ice and logs are jammed
against the Milwaukee railway bridge and
its destruction Is feared. The tracks for
200 feet are under several feet Of water.
No trains have passed between Iiokah
ana Lacrosse for twenty-four hours due
TO the Root river foods, and mill property
is in great danger along the Redwood and
Minnesota rivers.