Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1902-03-29
FLOODS CAUSE MANY WRECKS
Water submerges Tracks aud Half Dozen
Trains Are Lost.
TRAFFIC is At COMPLETE sTANDsTlLl
Railroads at Mercy of Raging
streams, Communities Are IslOated
and Families in Great
Distress.

MERIDIAN, Miss, March 2S-Eleven
inches OF rain have fallen during the past
forty eight hours. The streams are raging,
many farms are under water, bridges have
been washed away and railway trafhc is at
a standstill.
The wreck of the Alabama Southern
freight near York last night. due to the
washing of the roadbed, has completely sus
pended travel on that road, and the South
ern between Meridian and Selma.
Two trains were lost on the Alabama &
Vicksburg this morning; two lost on the
Mobile & Ohio and one was lost on the New
| Orleans & Northeastern, twenty miles south
Of Meridian. No trains have entered or de-
parted from Meridian since Thursday after
| noon.
! More Rain Expected.
Many of the telegraph wires are down and
some points are entirely cut off. Weather
cloudy and more rain probable.
Meridian is cut off from the outside world
| except that two Western Union wires are
still in operation. Not a train is moving
within fifty miles of the city. A fast freight
! on the Northeastern railroad is six feet
! under water and the crew is in danger of
being swept away. Efforts to reach the
trains by boats have been futile, owing to
the swift current. Two separate relief par
|
streams, but nothing has been heard from
them since last night. Water at Enter
prise, twelve miles south is rising at the
rate of eighteen inches an hour, with no
| prospect for the resumption of trafic. For
| two or three days the southern section of
| this city has been under three feet of water
| and many families have been forced to
! leave their homes in the lowlands and
cape to higher ground. One house was
thrown into the stream and carried away.
TrahIc IL DemOraIi1ed.
NEW ORLEANS, March 2s-The wind and
ralnstorm which has prevailed over south
ern Mississippi for the last forty eight
| hours has demoralized all railway traffic
and telegraphic communication today. The
| town OF Hazelhurst, Miss, has been COM
pletely isolated for the last two days on
account Of the heavy rains. Many streams
| In the country overfowed their banks and
| all passage from the country has been
stopped. Rain is still falling there
Great damage has been caused by the
flood at Newton Miss, and there is little
probability of the trains running for sew
eral days. Telegraph lines are prostrated
in all localities. An embankment of the
Illinois Central railroad, one mile north OF
Oxford, Miss, was washed away today,
leaving seventy feet of iron rails and cross
ties suspended ebout forty feet in the air.
Another washout occurred a mile south Of
the town.
Trains Held Up for Days.
1t will be several days before it is pos
sibe for trains to reach oxford from either
north or south.
Leaf river at Hattiesburg, Miss, rose
several feet during last night, and no trains
have passed over the Northeastern Of the
Gulf and Ship Island today on account of
the high water. The Northeastern is washed
out in several places between here and
| Meridian.
A dispatch from Laurel reports that
three miles of the Northeastern track is
inundated north OF Enterprise. At Enter
prise the Chickahshay river is on a ram
page and all the lowlands OF the river and
valley are covered with water. The river
at o'clock was as high as the food of
two years ago, and is rising at the rate of
four inches an hour.
The loss to farmers will be heavy. Over
five inches of rain has fallen at Vicksburg
in the last forty eight hours. The Alabama
G. Vicksburg and Shreveport & Pacific
roads are practically tied up. The river at
Reading today was 4O.2 or 4s below the
danger line. II the rains continue serious
results are feared.
Heavy Damage I'm Tennessee.
NASHVILLE, Tenn, March 2s.-Rain has
fallen steadily throughout this section Of
the state since early morning, the weather
bureau here reporting the precipitation at
705 inches. Reports from all directions tell
of washouts and wrecked bridges, railroad
trafhc south of Nashville being entirely sus-
pended. Property losses will be extremely
heavy, but so far the loss OF only one life
is reported, that being W. F. Dillehoy. a
rural route mail carrier in Maury county
The Louisville Nashville tracks are badly
torn up from Columbia, Tenn, to Athens
Ala, water being from two to five feet
over the tracks at several points. Two
bridges, north and south OF Pulaski are
washed out and the bridge at Lynnville is
out Of line.
A number OF trestles on the Nashville.
Florence & Shefi1eld are washed out and
200 feet of the Louisville & Nashville
track are turned over near Buford Station,
Giles county.
All wires are down south OF Columbia and
nothing can be learned from that direction.
AT Mount Pleasant, a phosphate mining
town in Maury county, the damage is espe-
cially heavy, manufacturing plants being
submerged and trestles and bridges washed
away.
Bridges Down, Trains Held.
In Rutherford county several trains are
laid up on the Nashville, CHATTANOOGA & st.
Louis between washed out bridges over
Stone river. long stretch is under water
in the vicinity Of Murphysboro but has not
yet given way. The bridge at Wartrace is
going and a pier is demolished. Nashville.
Chattanooga St. Louis passenger train
No. at that place is unable to proceed in
either direction and will not get away be,
fore tomorrow evening. The railway man
agement is looking to the comfort Of the
Waterbound passengers. Wires are down
and the company is unable to secure details
OF damage south OF Murphysboro. The
town OF Lbertia, Dekalb county, is under
water In several sections and families have
been forced to move out. while the roads
} are impossible. The Cumberland river al
Nashville rose nine feet between l2 O'Clock
today and O'Clock this evening and is stiil
rising. Late adylces from Columbia saS
Duck river is six feet above low water mark
and rising at an alarming rate. The cleo
trio light plant there is under water and
the city is in darkness. At Modon, Madi-
son county, 300 feet OF the Illinois Central
road is washed away.