The herald., 1897-04-11
Increase the Horrors OF
the Flood
NATURE is DOING HER WORST
AND THE CRISIS is YET TO
COME
The Sufferers Themselves Are Only
Now Beginning to Realize the Mag
nitude of the Calamity
. .soo,.,sa Press snec,a, wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
! GREENvILLE. Miss, April 10.-There
can be no exaggeration of the flood sit
uation in the Yazoo- Mississippi delta.
River bulletins of Friday evening indi-
cate an indefinite prulongation OF the
flood height in the Mississippi valley
from Cairo south. Throughout all the
country tributary to the Mississippi
there have been heavy rainfalls. The
crisis Is yet to come, and the vast ex-
tent of human suffering and destruc-
tion of property cannot be conceived.
, Here in the delta alone 1t may be truth
fully said the half has not yet been told.
The river is still a. a standstill, because
the water coming back into it from
the St Francis at Helena and from the
White and Arkansas just above Arkan-
sas City keeps up the rise at the latter
point, in spite of all the breaks in the
levees south of that place. People here
and where the water has not reached
them, strange to say, have only just
begun to realize the magnitude of the
calamity.
Yesterday afternoon a call was issued
by representative colored men for
meeting to organize a standing relief
committee. The river bulletin just re-
ceived promises a further rise at Cairo,
to begin about tomorrow and continue
for several days. The Ohio is again ris-
ing from Pitsburg south, and the Ar
kansas is again rising
Nature seems to be determined to do
her worst for the Lower Mississippi val
ley this year, and when the end will be
reached or where the wholesale destruc-
ton will stop. no one can foretelL
AT MEMPHIS.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, April 10.-There is
no abatement in the great flood in the
Mississippi. The waters continue to pour
onto the lowlands through five breaks
in the levees. and the small rivers trib-
utary to the Mississippi are overfiowing.
This has been rainy and stormy day in
the flooded districts. and extra guards
are being placed on levees tonight. With
the river stationary at Memphis and
Cairo, and the Upper Mississippi rising,
the duration of the flood is now ques-
ton that only the future can determine.
The great volume of water that for
weeks has filled the Arkansas bottoms,
ana which Is now ruSnlng INTO the Qelta,
continues slowly to pass into the main
channel again and adds to the already
swift current which now threatens the
Louisiana levees.
At Helena the situation is slowly i'm
proving. In North Helena the water has
fallen enough to allow some smaller
residences to be occupied, while those
who live in second stories are preparing
to move down again. The river at that
place has fallen two-tenths OF a foot in
"a hours.
IN DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, N. D., April TO-
Reports of privation and suffering among
the farmers down the river are pouring
in.
The local relief committee today Sc
cured the Great Northern steamers here
for rescue work.
This afternoon the government steamer
started out on its errand of mercy to the
suffering farmers. She went thoroughly
equipped to fight the ice gorges and aid
the people, who are said to be on house
tops and even in trees, waiting for help
Locally there is hardly any chanpe