West Virginia daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1894-1902, 1902-03-01
FLOOD At PITTSbURG
Breaking Of Ice Gorge In the
Allegheny River, Followed
by High Water:
MAYBE 80 Fl. THIS AFTERNOON.
Residents Of Lower Portions of Two
Cities Warned to Pc Prepared.
Flood In Blair County. Pa.-High
Water at Philadelphia.

Water at Philadelphia.
Pittsburg. March Thousands Of
tons of ice swept out of the Allegheny
river into the Ohio yesterday. Swirl
ing, sweeping along in an eddying
current, tossing the muddy waters
into foam and bringing down from
points many miles up the Allegheny
ice foe, riding on swollen stream,
passed along Fittsburg's water front.
while 5000 people looked at it, fascin-
ated.
The damage caused by the crush
ing force OF the ice was great. What
it is will rot be known for several
days. Many hundreds Of dollars
were sacrificed in the NAV of the
ice king.
No lives were lost as far as posi-
lively known throughout the entire
course Of 20 miles of the gorge's race.
Numerous narrow escapes were re-
ported, however, and some intensely
thrilling experiences were had by
persons in the affected districts along
the river.
In the wake of the river of ice
came the danger Of big flood. This
danger is not Yet past, and the rains
and melting rays of the sun that rot
ted the huge chunks of ice until they
were robbed of their destructive pow
ers, caused the headwaters of the AL
legheny to pour out torrents of wa
ter, which appreciably raised the
stage here, until this morning the or.
binary food stage Of spring freshet
had already been reached, threaten.
ing still more serious trouble.
May Reach 3o-Foot STAGE.
The long expected food may reach
80 feet by noon today. Until S o'clock
yesterday evening danger from such
flood was not anticipated by Local
Weather Fcrecaster Frank Ridgway
or any OF the experienced river men.
AT that hour special reports from
the river observers along the Monon-
gahela and Allegheny rivers and their
tributaries showed that the water
from the mountain streams was be.
ginning to have an effect on the riv-
ers, causing them to rise rapidly. Mr..
Rldgway st once issued warnings
through the Police departments of the
two cities to notify the residents of
the lower wards to prepare for &c
fleet. The rise is due almost entirely
to the melting of snow in the noun
tains during the last few days of high
temperature.
AS the river and other interests hac
been warned that flood was likely
to occur almost any hour today.
nearly every person was well pre-
pared and the amount of loss. in
: spite of tho high water. is not ex
pected to be as large as it might
otherwise have been. When the ic,
gorge passed out of the Allegheny
river the water rose to about Is feet
and remained stationary for several
hours.
Backed by Great Volume Of Water.
Reports from IN river points at
that time Indicated that rise of %
feet might be expected. Later re
ports showed that the river was ris
ing more .apidly than earlier in the
day. and that the volume of water
behind it was great Mr.. Ridgway
said last night:
The rise. in reports from up river
points show that the snow is meltinx
In the mountains and causing all OF
the rivers to rise again. The rise is
from tie E.eltng snow. which has
been living IN the mountains all win
ter. It is IMPOSSIBLE to predict &C
curateiv what stage CT water will be
reached here, az 1t is not known what
depth of SHOW is in the mountains
Under similar circumstances the riy
ers have been known to rise contiu
nously for. from 90 to sc hours. and
the reports received tonight indicate
that thew will continue to rise all
day. The maximum stage will prob
ably be reached Saturday afternoon
or Saturday night"
The weather prediction for Pitts
burg and vicinity today is partly
cloudy. with falling temperature and
probably ~iisht rains.
! Although the residents of the low
lying districts ef Pittsburg and Allie
gheny We're more or less prepared for
a mood, fhere vas a general hurryils