New-York tribune., 1903-06-02
MISCHIEF MAKING STORMS.


weather in the West and South has been the
chief feature of the country's news for several
DAYS. \ group of tornadoes which killed up
ward of fifty persons beyond the Mississippi
early last week was promptly followed there
by freshets of startling proportions. In con-
nection with the same barometric depression
which gave rise TO those disasters, Georgia yes
terdav suffered from a local disturbance which
seems to have been attended with even more
fatal consequences. The city of Gainesville lay
in its path and here, in twinkltng, two cotton
mills were ruined and 9th r buildings de-
stroved While the number of victims cannot
be told with precision. it looked last evening as
if IT might possibly be more than one hundred
and fifty.
The principal streams which feed the ather
of Waters have adhered closely TO estaoIshed
usage in the time OF their rises this year. The
Ohio which makes the largest contrlbuuons'
and is. therefore the chief source OF peril TO
the lower Mississippi Valley, attained its high
est level in March. while the Missouri and its
tributaries waited until about the first of June.
In another respect, however, the season has
been exoeptjonsl At Memphis and Vicksburg
all TrevIous records were beaten by several
inches. and now the Missouri and some of tts
branches sre reported TO be nine or ten feet
higher than in the famous flood year OF 1881
Tuasmucb as the engineers who nave beeh
building Ievees in Arkansas, Tennessee. MIS-
sissppi and Louisiana had predicted hIgher
water as consequence of narrowing the cnan-
mel the inundations of March and April can
hardly be attributed to phenomenal rains. Inc
latter cause alone though, has operated TO ere
ate the crisis Of the last few days in Kansas,
Missouri and Iowa. Doubtless the rivers or that
region were already bank full fortnight ago.
The situation was then sadly aggravated pS
last weeks storm. which seems to have been
unusually heavy and to have made remarkapiy
slow progress.
The scene of the most trouble was the valley
of the Kaw which flows in a generally east
ward direction through Kansas. and joins the
Missouri at Kansas City. At Topeka. less than
a hundred miles from the confluence Of the two
rivers the actual loss of life is now reported
AZ thjrtv-follr but hundreds, if not thousands,
have been made homeless there. = small tire
in the northern part of the city prevailed Sat
urday and it's proportions were grossly e2as-
gerated in the earlier dispatches. 1t now ap-
pears that the injury from that cause was
trifiing, and that no one was burned to death
Bv the collapse of bridge at the mouth or
the Kaw twenty-sevep persons appear TO have
been drowned. A similar fate may have been
encountered by other residents of the large
suburbs of Kansas City, which are situated
west of the Missouri. Here too the loss of life
has been greatly magnifed. The number OF
people without shelter and temporarily with
out food. though. was very great The estl-
mate which puts this at twenty-five thousand
for the two cities does not look exravagant.
To the hardships thus indicated one must add
the PARALYSIS Of business and the effects OF
fright and exposure before he can form a cor
rect idea of the full effect of the flood
The damage to property, fortunately. will fall
mainly upon the railroads, Armour & Co,
whose packing houses were involved, and other
corporations. Hutchinson, Kan, which is sit
uated on the upper Wichita and not the kaw,
| and Des Moines, Iowa, have also had an ex-
| eeedingly trying experience Possibly it may
| cost several million dollars to repair the in
Jury which has been inflicted during the last
few days in Kansas and adjacent States.
The freakishness of fate is forcby Illus
| trated by the contrast between the weather
conditions recently prevailing in the West and
East While one part of the country has been
suffering from roo much rain, another has had
too little. The month of May just ended was
the dryest which New York City has seen for
thirty-three years. Substantially the same state
of things existed in q region stretching from the
ST Lawrence TO the Carolinas. and reaching in
land two hundred or three hundred miles For
est fires in the Adirondacks and Pennsylvania
have thus been made possible. Strawberries,
early vegetables and grass have been almost
ruined in New England and the Middle At
antic States. Other crops have suffered less,
but the period during which this drouth has
lasted covers several weeks. If its total effect
were expressed in dollars and compared with
the harm done by floods in the West during the
last few days, it might make much the worst
showing