Evening star., 1899-07-05
APPALLING DISASTER
Tale of Terrible Havoc Wrought by
the Texas Floods.
GARDEN CHANGED TO WILDERNESS
Fertile Valleys Become Sea:
Stretching Miles in Extent.
STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS

HOUSTON, Tex, July "a correspon-
dent has just returned from a voyage
through the flood districts. The half has
rot been told of the havoc wrought. The
disaster is 50 appalling that description is
not possible After this flood will come
sickness undoubtedly, and what a week ago
was the fairest part of Texas is now al
most a God-forsaken wilderness. The wat
ers of the Brazos have for six days covered
Its valley to depth of from six to thirty
feet; where a week ago there were on every
hand fields of cotton and corn and thou
sands of acres of watermelons and canta-
loupes. today there is Shiny mud over all
the vegetation. There are carcasses of
cows, mules pigs, dogs and cats. and, may
hap, human bodies, for many are missing.
Our party left Bryan at sunrise yesterday
morning, going to the Navasoto bottoms
and to a point about three miles from Mlli-
can. Here We encountered everywhere an
overflow from the Navasoto, which spread
out fully two miles on either side of the
Houston and Texas Central track.
Electric Wire Poles Submerged.
Everything is under water from two to
seventeen feet. 1t looked all sides like
a great lake, and the water was so high
that for a vast area it completely sub
merged the telegraph and telephone poles
diOHS the llllc- III lTulI, pOIllOAS VI lHe
NavaSoto bottoms are even now a perfect
Sea, extending four or five miles wide at
certain points | saw hundreds of houses
there totally submerged, and as many more
were swept from their foundations and de-
stroyed- The planters of the bottoms are
still moving their help and whatever is left
of their stock to places where they can be
cared for. They are all nobly helping each
other. and taking refuge wherever they
can, some of them seeking safety on house
tops.
Five Hundred Miles of Destruction.
All the planters stated that the outside
world has no conception of the floods or
osses incurred by the destruction of crops,
stock and buildings. Nearly every planter
has built boats and sent them through the
flooded districts to render assistance to the
people and, if possible, save some of their
drowning stock.
The flood district has a length of over
500 miles, a breadth of probably 30 miles,
ard in all this vast space damage incalcu-
liable mas been done.
The loss to life will never be fully known,
perhaps. The bottoms were thickly settled,
mostly with negro tenant farmers. Among
these there has been the greatest loss of
life. To show the damage done the fol-
lowing estimates have been made by men
who are in position to know:
Estimated LOSS of Life and Property.
Lives lost, from 100 to 800.
Loss TO farmers, including crops as well
as live stock. from s., 900 OOO to SO, 10000.
Damage to railroads and country bridges,
S2.OtHOOO to s4,OOO,OO0
These estimates are taken in the whole
area. 1t is known that more than sixty
people have met their death; that many
bodies have been recovered. But it is not
believed that all of them will ever be re-
covered.
GOV. Sayers Appeals for Aid.
A dispatch from Austin, Tex, last night
stated follows: Gov. Sayers has re-
ceived the following telegram from num-
Der of prominent residents of Brookshire, a
small town in Waller county, on the Brazos
river, about thirty miles from Houston:
Hundreds of people here, with every
thing swept away by flood; have not a
mouthful to eat and no shelter. Unless
food is sent at once starvation is inevitable
and to you, as governor of Texas, we ap-
peal for immediate aid and food"
Gov. Sayers replied by wiring the mayors
of Houston, Galveston and San Antonio as
follows:
Am just advised that hundreds of people
are suffering at Brookshire for want of
food. Have no public funds at my disposal
Please call on the people of your city to
assist"