The San Francisco call., 1899-07-02
MANY LIVES LOST
IN TEXAS FLOODS
Town Of Calvert Com
pIetely Under Water.
RESCUE PARTIES WORKING
RAILROAD COMMUNICATION IS
CUT OFF AND WIRES DOWN.
The Most Remarkable Weather Ever
Known in the State-Losses
Go Up Into the Mil
lions.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

/ AUSTIN, July There has been an
other twenty-four hours of continuous
heavy rainfall throughout the flooded
districts of Central and South Texas,
with result that the rivers and streams
have had their. over1ows greatly aug
mented. inflicting additional loss and
damage, aggregating hundreds of thou
sands of dollars to the agricultural in
terests. The rainfall in this immediate
section last might was over two inches
and east Of here. along the course of the
Brazos River, it, exceeded that amount.
In: a number of localities the down
pour was in the. nature of ~cloud-burst,
which destroyed growing crops and
property of various descriptions. 1t is
the most remarkable period of weather
ever recorded in Texas. To-day reports
We're. received of terrific floods in the
Nueces, Guadalupe and. othe.: streams
Of the southwestern parts of the State:
The full effect of the floods of the.
BraZos and Colorado rivers are now
being felt in their far lower courses.
and for a distance of over one hundred
miles. back from where these streams.
empty into the Gulf, and for a width.
of $50 miles, the whole country is under
water. The bottom lands are. not
only overfioWed. but hundreds of thou
sands of acres located some distance"
back from the main channels of the:
streams are flooded to%a depth of sew
eral feet. AS this still. water hos no.
outlet 1t will remain for some time: after.
high waters in the streams have. sub
sided, totally running the growing
crops. -: .: Z r. (. !. r: :.
Henry I.arowe "of Houston arrived
here from. the flooded district below
Hearne this evening. He STATED that
the loss to the cotton planters in that
I section alone would aggregate three
"quarters of a million dollars; and that
/ the total :losS in%the State would Ger
tainly reach. 200 900 bales. In addition
to%1osinP their growing crops, many
eXtersiXe= planters have had their sub
<stantial farm" buildings swept away. It
is: 50 seldom that q disastrous flood oc-
Ecurs. in the BraZos and tributary
streams, that no protection in the way
of leyees- is afforded the planters, and
for this reason the. losses. are much
greater than they otherwise would
have been. !: -.
/. (. It is. the. first time in the history of
Texas that all the railroads in the State
T have been practically tied up on ac-
I@count.aof floods. There are a few lines
In the. northern part Of the State that
i are still uninterrupted, but on all the
principal roads traffic is eOmplet ely
suspended. Many. costly steel bridges,
long stretches of trestle work and
scores Of miles of track and roadbed
are washed away. When the waters
subside it will take several weeks to re-
pair the roads Numerous unconfirmed
reports of deaths by drowning have
reached here. In Washington County
several negro families living in a cIus-
ter of cGbins in the Brazos bottoms
,ni1 tn hor- INfff
escape by the food, and, as the piece
of ground upon which they lived is un-
der water, it is believed they were
swept into the raging current and
drowned. Hundreds of men are search
ing the remote localities along the
course of the river in boats and on RATS
rescuing negroes and whites from the
tops of trees.
A telephone message was received
here this evening from Franklin stat
ing that the town of Lake Station,
elven miles east of here, is completely
under water and that about thirty resi-
dences in the place have been washed
away The deluge came slowly, enabling
the habitants to seek safety on higher
grounds.
A large number of small settlements
south of Hampstead are also under
water and have been abandoned by the
inhabitants.
WIG reports are In circulation re-
garding the situation at Calvert, a.
prosperous town located near the juno
tion of the BraZos and Little Brazos
rivers Telegraph and telephone com
l]municatfon with the place was abruptly
cut off last evening and no word has
+ been received here from there since that
t:time. i" r. ...'-..
|. when the wires went down a message
was being sent stating that the town
was. threatened. A complete overflow
and "a. heavy loss of life had already
|: occurred, seven bodies of negroes hav-
i ing been recovered. An effort tonight
Ito SECURE telephone communication
/ proved futile. Another storm visited
this section, south Of Austin, this after
noon, doing much damage.