Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-29
Des Moines Suffers Most and Still Greater
Damage is Anticipated.
EvEES BREAK AND HOUSES FLOODED
One Span Of Bridge Connecting East and
West Cities Destroyed.
STREET RAILWAY TRAFFIC SUSPENDED
other Streams Beside the Des MOines
Are Out of Banks and Much of
the Bottom Land of state
f. Under Water.
(From a stan correspondent.l


experience of ten months ago in Des
Moines are being repeated in the low dis
, trlcts. Ten square miles OF the city are
under water. $50 residences are surrounded
1000 people moving into tents or tenn
porary places of abode, forty factories are
idle, valuable bridges are gone and parts
of the residence district are completely cut
on from the main part of the city. The
Des Moines river was this morning at 1850
feet. quickly moved up to twenty feet and
by p. m. was at 2O.25. The record OF
last year was 2l3 feet Reports came
early today that at Boone the river was
four feet above last years mark. BY ..
m. the report came from a brlckyard a
few miles up the river that the water was
| fourteen inches above the last years
mark. During the day thousands of men
were at work along the levees in various
parts of the city, chiefly near the junction
of the Coon rnd Des Moines river, near
the city waterworks and in the north
part of the city near the Sixth avenue
bridge. Before noon the false work in use
in the construction of new arch bridge at
! Sixth avenue, leading to Highland Park
addition north of the city, was carried
out and two spans of the unfinished bridge
| went down. The old truss bridge near
was Immediately closed. as also the street
! car bridge just below, and this left the
! people of Highland Park cut off from the
| city. In South Des Moines and in the
southeast part of the city upwards of
200 residences were surrounded by water,
but there was no swift current and the
families were moved out with ease
The city council authorized the use OF
thousand tents TO- the families No fatal
/ tiles occurred In connection with the trans
fer of goods and large force of special
policemen is guarding the districts.
In the large factory district south of the
railroad tracks in West Des Mones all
! business is suspended. Nearly all the
factories are flooded and the machinery
and material, so far as possible, has been
moved. to upper stories in the buildings
The damage win be immense Large
levees that broke through last year are
being strengthened in the hope that they
may be saved.
The street railway service was abandoned
at o'clock this afternoon owing to water
submerging the power house.
All night long scores of men patrolled
the river banks strengthening the levees
while many more were employed In remov-
ing inhabitants and their household goods
from the river bottoms. But two drownings
have thus far been reported In Des Moines
Owing to similar conditions over the west
half of the state, several otner fatalities
have been reported. In Des Moines, ap-
proximately 600 have thus far abandoned
their homes while twice as many more
are preparing to move.
Shortly past o'clock the levees on
Maurice street gave way before the floods
of the Des Moines river, swelled by those
of the Raccoon, and $50 houses were flooded
in an incredibly short time. forcing their
inmates to run for their lives. leaving their
household effects behind In most cases.
The Raccoon is keeping pace with the
Des Moines and has devastated many miles
OF territory in the southwest portion Of
the city
At Cedar Falls the Cedar river rose sud
denly during the night. so that a large
number of persons had to be rescued in
boats from upper floors. Middle river, tho
Little Sioux and the Nishnabotna are the
highest in their history.
News comes from Schaller of the drown
ing of Curtis Seek. Communication was
reopened with Audubon and II was learned
that seven children were seriously hurt in
tornado Tuesday night and that five
persons were injured.
Millions of Damage 20 Crops.
SIOUX CITY, Ia, May 2s.-(special Tel
egram. THE Little Sioux is on a rampage
in the vicinity of Onawa. Between Blencoe
and the river the farmers have taken 20
the hills, abandoning their homes. 1t is
estimated here the damage TO crops in
northwestern Iowa will he between $780,
900 and 100000 The damage in Woodbury.
county alone will be over $4,000.
CEDAR FALLS, Ia, May 2s-(speciai
/ Telegram. Presidents OF Cedar City are
,, escaping from their homes in boats today
! on account OF high water in the Cedar. II
is mile wide.
Wind sweeps over Indiana.
INDIANAPOLIS, May 2s.-Details OF the
work OF the storm which swept almost
every part OF the state were received today.
At Alexandria The Penn-American Plate
Glass company had several large steel
stacks wrecked. William c. Gray, a ma
: chinists helper. was killed. A part OF the
Republic Steel mill was carried away and
2 some damage was inflicted on the south
side window house. Tho aggregate prop
erty loss is large.
At Walton Manford Stevenson was in
stantly killed by lightning and four other
men were severely injured.
At'Hammond the wind wrecked the home
r Of Policeman William Bunde. and Bunde
was severely injured by falling timbers.
Edward Brennan, a railway engineer, died
/. Of shock Christopher Hodel and his son.
n while working in field. were struck by
I lightning. The boy was killed and the
= father fatally injured
At Greensburg the county buildings were
unroofed
n Heavy damage was done at Frankfort,
!, Thorntown, Decatur. Windfall. Camden and
| Geneva,
,, In this city and surrounding towns the
70 telephone wires were wrecked. Property
y loss In Howard county alone Is estimated
at 100000.
: Kansas Is Inundated.
Topeka, Kan, May PA worse flood
n situation prevails in Kansas tonight thar
| for years. A steady rain is falling ovel
: the state tonight.
The Union Pacific has moved no traini
n on its line between this city and Man