The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-10-03
MORE SERIOUS
A Tornado Raging Of the South At
lantic Coast

A Tornado Raging Off the South At
lantic Coast
SAVANNAH, Oct. 2.-For fourteen hours
from o'clock this morning until o'clock
tonight Savannah has been in the grasp
of West Indian tornado. During that time
the wind blew steady from sixty to seven
ty miles an hour. While the city escaped
with comparatively little damage, the loss
Of property among the sea islands Of the
Georgia and South Carolina coast Is be-
lieveu to be heavy.
Only one fatality has so far been re-
ported-the drowning of a negro while at
| tempting to reach the land from small
island near Thunderbolt-but heavy loss Of
life is feared on the South Carolina sea
islands, where such fearful loss of life
occurred in the great tidal storm of 1888
The conditions now are similar to those
during that storm. Owing to the submerged
country and the Isolated location Of the
islands, news cannot be had from them
until the weather subsidies.
For miles north of Savannah the entire
country is submerged. At noon the
water was eight feet above the
highest tide. Driven on shore by
the northeast storm, It filled up on the
Islands, swept over banks and dams. carry
Ing away the remnant Of the rice crop that
was left by the August storm and had not
been gathered, and will destroy farm
crops
The loss to rice growers alone will be
from $4,000 to $4,000. The rice crops along
the Savannah river, valued at 500. 900, were
lost in this storm. The damage to shipping
t.
Ames, which was on her way to sea with
a cargo of 100000 feet of lumber, went
adrift in the harbor but was secured
safely The wharves at the quarantine
station at the entrance to the river har-
Dor were partially carried away. -Four ves-
sells which were at anchor at the station
were torn from their moorings and driven
into the marshes The extent to which
the railway suffered is not fully known.
The naval stores and cotton and lumber
yards of the Plant system are submerged
and the tracks of the Central Railroad Of
Georgia and the Georgia and Alabama rail-
road around the city are covered. The
northbound express on the +. c. and P.
railroad, due here from Florida at noon
has not yet arrived. Telegraph wires are
down and the condition of the railroad
tracks is unknown. The telephone, police,
light and fire alarm wires are down and
the city is in darkness.
On Hutchinson's island, opposite Savan-
nah and separating the city from the
South Carolina shore, there were many
negro families rescued by boats from the
revenue steamers Tybee and Boutwell,. One
man with a child In his arms started to
cross the dam with the water up to his
body. His wife with another child stood
in the window of their house, the floor of
which was already flooded by the rising
water and watched her husband feel his
way step by step along the top Of the
treacherous dam, one false step Of which
or a caving would throw him into swift
moving current. Finally he was sighted
from across the river on the city side. A
boat was put in and after half an hours
effort the man was rescued. Upwards Of
a hundred people were brought from the
island to the city in boats.
Tonight the wind has subsidized but the
water which receded with the ebb of the
tide in the afternoon, has again risen.
Considerable anxiety is felt for shipping at
sea. The steamer Nacoochee for New
York and the steamer D. H. Miller for
Baltimore went to sea Saturday night. The
City of Macon was due this morning from
New York, but has not yet arrived, and
the City Of Augusta sailed from New York
Friday and was due here tonight
At Sandy Hook
SANDY HOOK, N. J., Oct. 2-11:so D.
IN. The life saving station reports a
schooner ashore near that pace. The
vessel is the Stephen Bennett, from Phila-
delnhia to Portsmouth The vexse1 lfos