The San Francisco call., 1899-07-03
Damage to Property by the
Flood Reaches Into the
Millions.
HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE
Hundreds Of Imperiled Persons
Rescued by Means Of lmpro-
vised Rats.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

provement in the distressing situation in
the extensive flooded districts of Central
and Southern Texas. On the contrary the
inundaton is growing worse. There has
been another twenty-four hours of heavy,
continuous rains which added to the
already unprecedented volumes of water
in the rivers and creeks of the richest
agricultural region in the State. There
seems to be no end TO the rainfall Ihe
sea of water now extends from the noFtn
central part of the State to the Gulf a
distance of 300 miles and more, and with
an average width of probably seventy
five miles The great food began nearly
a week ago and the suffering of the peo-
pie in the inaccessible localities that are
surrounded and completely cut off from
communication with the outside world
must be severe.
Every possible effort Is being made TO
rescue the unfortunate men, women and
children thus situated. and all to-day res
cuers piled the turbulent waters in i'm
provised boats and RATS picking up the
stranded people and conveying them 10
higher land
Railroad officials can do nothing TO i'm
prove the situation to their damaged
properties More costly bridges are re-
ported to have been swept away to-day
among them being that of the Missouri
Kansas and Texas road over Little RNer'
All traffic over that division was sus-
pended last night. Freight and passenger
business is at a standstill
The International and Great Northern
Railroad this morning started out large
wrecking force to work in the water pc
tween here and Hearne TO replace lhe
track and bridges. 1t has several brldges
to be replaced and much Of its track mas
been under water. The Houston ana
Texas Central does not expect TO get It's
trains running for six days YET. me
track is four feet under water for much
of its way from HearHe down, and as
a number of bridges have been washed
away and Workmen cannot get at the
creeks TO replace them, owing to the rag
ing torrents, they will of necessity have to
wait until the waters Substde.
The estimated damage of A,0OO,O00 TO the
country tributary to the BraZos Valley
is none too high, as reports received to-
day and tonight merely confirm the tale
of loss and suffering reported yesterday
The loss of life, though heavy, will not be
as large as reported. and Will be princi-
pally among the negroes.
The Southern Pacific is standing the
floods better than any other trunk line in
the State. That road has profited by past
experience and its roadbed, track and
bridges are far above high-water mark
of the raging rivers.
scores of houses have passed down the
Brazos River near there during the last
twenty-four hours. The carcasses of hun
dreds of cattle, horses and other livestock
have f1oated by.
Judging from the number Of residences
IN the river, there must have been much
destruction of property a points above
there. 1t is still impossible to verify at
this time the numerous reports of loss Of
life in the bottoms of the Brazos and its
tributaries. The earlier reports of heavy
loss Of life in Robertson County, caused
by a meeting Of the waters of the BraZOS
and Little BraZos rivers, have been con-
f1rmed.
The information received here to-day
from Calvert, which is in the midst of the
scene of the destruction is meager, but
is TO the effect that over seventy persons
are missing. Nine bodies have been re-
covered. The floods of the two rivers
came up so suddenly that the negroes
living between the water courses had no
opportunity to escape. They were caught
in trap and drowned.
n. r. Bagley, commission man Of
Kansas City, arrived to-day direct from
the flooded region of Dewitt and adjoin-
ing counties. He was directing the ship
ment of Watermelons when the big rise
occurred. He estimates that over 1000
swept away by the high waters.
He said: mo one would believe the
extent and the terrible effects. of the flood
in Walter and other counties in the
Colorado and Brazos valleys unless he
had seen for himself. l can not describe
1t better than to say that the whole coun.
horses and cattle standing in fields with
the water up to their necks 1t has
taken me four days to get from Cuero to
Austin. Many miles of railroads are un-
der water and in some places an effort is
being made to run local passenger trains
with water covering the track to depth
Colorado and Brazos that are inficting
great damage, but small streams also are
flooding the country.
It is estimated that over 2000 wagon
road bridges have been washed away in
the counties comprising the flooded dis
trict. The loss from this source alone is
very heavy In some counties as many
as 200 bridges are gone.
The Bosque is the latest river to get on
rampage. A telephone message was
received here to-day from Walnut
Springs stating that that stream was
out of it's banks, and that thousands of
acres of shocked wheat had been swept
away. 1t had also washed away several
miles of track of the Houston and Texas
Central road as well as two bridges near
Walnut Springs.