Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-03-11

Awful Storm Sweeps Over the Mis-
sissippi Valley.

Awful Storm Sweeps Over the ME.
sissippi Valley.
Reports from southern Illinois, Indiana.
Ohio, Missouri and Kentucky indicate
that the worst rainstorm known In years
has swept over those sections Of the coun-
try. In many places the rainfall, which
began Thursday night. registered six and
seven inches within eighteen hours. and
as result entire communities were flood
ed by overlooking streams. At St. Louis
two lives are supposed to have been lost
and several persons are missing. The
damage to property In that city will foot
up into the hundreds of thousands. At
Cincinnati no lives were lost, but the dam
age is said to be enormous. From all
points in the State named news has come
of disastrous washouts which practically
paralyzed railroad traffic and numerous
wrecks are reported. BY the collapse of
q building one child was killed at Cairo,
Ill.
At Cincinnati there has never been a
precedent in the history of the local
weather bureau for the amount of rainfall.
Mill creek and the Big and Little Miami
are raging torrents. Mill creek Is sweep.
ing down, carrying everything before 1t.
Its normal width is twenty feet. 1t is
now from one-half to a mile wide, engulf-
ing a broad territory. Scores of factories
and hundreds of gardens are under water.
Great damage is reported from the valley.
and many have been compelled to fly for
their lives. The Ohio river rose seven
feet in twelve hours. No flood in the his
tory of the Ohio has so completely cut off
Cincinnati from the outside world as the
present. The only railroad not tied up
were those entering Cincinnati from Ken
tucky-the Queen and Crescent, the
Chesapeake and Ohio and the Louisville
and Nashville.
The food in southern Indiana Is the
worst since 1875. Twenty streets in In
dianapols were under water, and in the
entire northeastern part Of the city many
people got up to find their clothing floating
in foot of water on the first floors. In
four hours White river rose six feet. The
railroad service throughout the southern
half of the State was fearfully crippled.
At Langdon station, on the Pennsylvania
road, the flyer train. south bound, had a
narrow escape. The water was pouring
over the rails when the flyer passed that
point in safety. A minute later the en-
bankment for a distance of 300 feet dis
appeared as if by magic. Advices from
every quarter of the State tell of great
damage by the flood. Nearly all the wag-
on bridges in the vicinity of North Yer
non were washed away and the loss will
be many thousands of dollars. Portland
suffered deluge and the town was partly
submerged. Martinsyille has been com
pletely isolated and three-quarters of
mile of the Big Four tracks was washed
out. Half of Washington is flooded and
many families are homeless. The fire bells
were ringing for relief of the sufferers.
Bridges are washed away and trains are
delayed by washouts. At Anderson White
river is out of its banks, and washouts
are reported on the Panhandle, Big Four
and Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton
railroads. At Vincennes the Wabash riv-
er rose one foot an hour and railroad
traffic is seriously impeded. The hardest
rain in forty years fell at Madison and
hundreds of homes were flooded. The
Ohio river has been rising four inches an
hour.
In the vicinity Of Cairo, H., tornado and
inundation went hand in hand. Roofs
were torn off by the storm, plate-glass
windows smashed, a frame church I'M
der construction destroyed, and one
house blown down and wreckage burned.
Eight persons were injured and one killed
and burned in the ruins. The wind We
locity was from sixty five to eighty miles
Mrs. James Darnell had her back broken.
Mrs. Cary, injured internally, will prob
IDLY die. Sol Pettis' child burned to
death. but others in the house escaped
with slight injuries
The storm was terrific ut Winchester,
Ky. The track Of the twister was about
half mile wide, and came from the
southwest Houses we're blown down.
trees uprooted and many domestic ami
mails killed. Hundreds of families have
been rendered homeless, and creeks and
streams throughout the inundated coun-
try are rising.