The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-17
Bread Baked on Hillside for
 the Homeless
CREST REACHES CINCINNATI
Five Hundred Persons Take Refuqe In Portsmouth School-Loss to Pitts burg Is $1o,ooo,ooo and sa,ooo,.
 900 at Wheeling.

Cincinnati, March 16.-With the Ohio river rising here at the rate of about one-tenth of foot an hour ana tna crest of the flood not yet passed 1t Is practically certain stage of sixty-three feet will be reached. if not exceeded.
 Weather Forecast Officer Bassler ex- pressed doubt today that the river would go quite to the January mark of 65 as he predicted yesterday. but said it would surely go 10 6S feet. The river will con- tinue to rise tonight and tomorrow and by Monday a turn will come. The water has crippled a few street car lines which traverse the lower parts of this city, but no extensive damage has been reported Up the river the situation Is more seri- ous This is especially true at Marietta and Portsmouth, where the crest of the
 flood is passing
 | At Marietta two thirds of the city is flooded and there is considerable suffering among the inhabitants The people are l in dire straits as nearly all the groceries in the town have been flooded. Flour is being delivered to the people on the hill- sides who are baking bread for those who have been drEen from their homes.
 
 the water encroach on ground not hereto fore flooded. Two other levees have been weakened by the water sweeping through and will also go. Only one is considered safe, that in the east end of tho city, | The breaking of these levoes has com, pelled hundreds of people to vacate their homes and paralyzed manufacturing con- | eerns.
 1 Further above these points the waters | arc falling and the situation Is inlprov- l ing
 l Work on Break. 1 Portsmouth, O.. March 16.-By desper- ate efforts q big army of railroad men l under tho personal direction Of Superin- | tendent G. F. Johnson or the Norfolk and Western railroad repaired q break m the | north end of the leYee with carloads of cross ties, cinders and dirt bags and al- l though water is seeping througl< the levee, pumps are holding their own. Such persons who have moved their families to places of safety are keeping constant vigilance to warn others the mo- ment the waters come over. The six l school buildings are shelterlng about 800 refugees The river has reached the six ty-foot mark, and is still rising one and one-half inches per hour. chllicothe street, the principal business thoroughfare, is now under four feet of water for a distance of three squares, and leading streets, which twenty hours ago were scenes of spring openings, pre- sent barricaded fronts and flooded floors.
 Water Is on the Grand opera house floor and in the new Masonic temple thousands have been tenn porarily thrown out of employment by the enforced shut down of factories, and manufacturing plants, on account of the suspension Of the water works. The situation is dis heartening as Portsmouth has hardly re- covered from the effects of ,he January flood and the big street ear strike. which was settled only a few days ago. S1o,oooooo Loss. Pittsburs. March f6-After three days of business stasnatiou. caused by a re- markedly rapid rise in the Monongaheia. Allegheny and Ohio rivers which inun- dated more than ten square miles of this city, conditions have about assumed their normal trend With the exception of low lands below the city, the water has sab- sided to it's natural course
 The task of cleaning up the streets in the downtown district was completed to- night Large forces of men are clearing the interiors of buildings and repairing them for resumption or business Monday morning.
 Several mills and manufacturing estah- lishments began operations tonight. With in two or three days 1t Is thought all the mills will have resumed.
 The loss in the Pittsburg district is es- timated at s10.00O.000. Reports from up- river points increase the damage by the flood in western Pennsylvania at least S50,O0
 The exact number of fatalities caused by the high water has not yet been as- certained. score of persons are known to have met death In the flood. Today additional reports of many deaths were reported by the coroners from the sur rounding towns. However, the reports have not been verified.
 Coal shipments will be made tomorrow when several big tows will start south. There were about 1O 600, 900 bushels of coal in the harbor during the flood, but no losses were reported