Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-21
D PE RIL
CROWS HOURLY
MORE SERIOUS
Thousands of Houses
Are Inundated
Great Inland Sea Covers Former Pesi-
dence Section of LouisviIle-Ohio
Valley People Face Des-
perate Situation
BY Assncintcd Press.

BY Associated Press.
LOUISVILLE, KY, Jan. 20.-With
the Ohio relentlessy pouring its flood
southwark and maintaining steady
rise of an inch an hour, Kentucky
streams contributing their volumes
| from mountain regions. a high wind
blowing up stream all day, damaging
shipping and preventing. the rapid pass
ing of the current Louisville tonight
faced a food situation which promises
to equal, before the crest is passed, the
stage of 1884, the greatest flood ever
known to the city.
| Thousands of people are homeless,
and are housed in school buildings,
warehouses and other structures. Fac
tories in this city Jeffersonville and
| New Albany are closed and thousands
of people are out of work, stocks of
merchandise in the business houses
along the river front are ruined, much
| lumber has been washed away and
many small houses and their contents
| toppled over into the water.
A conservative estimate of the dam
age done, with the crest of the flood
| yet two days off, is a quarter of mill
| lion dollars.
Street cars in several parts of the
city are entirely stopped, while trains
on nearly all the railroads are arriv
| ing from three to ten hours late.
Water Spreads Over Tracks
Late this afternoon the back water
from Bear Grass creek forced it's way
out of it's banks at Broadway and was
soon spreading over the Louisville &
| l,,,@, ;.,,, L,
a few blocks of fashionable residence
section, and it is many years since that
part of the city was overlooked. The
| tracks of the Illinois Central, the Bal
timore & Ohio, the Southwestern and
Southern railways are still two feet
under water.
All night at the "cut off, where the
greatest danger was supposed to cen
ter men were on duty to watch for a
break. The levee withstood the pres
sure, but at daylight the rapidly in
creasing flood drove the watchers from
their position and the water began to
pour over the embankment into the val
ley homes known as THE Point"
Between 1900 and 400 houses occupy
that portion of Louisville known as
THE Point" For the most part they
are the abodes of river men and people
Injured to all sorts of hardships
Residence Section an Inland Sea
All day long the water poured over
the embankment a foot deep, and
quickly seeking it's level transformed u
large majority of the poorer residence
section into a vast inland sea. Mel
wood avenue, from Sixteenth street TO
the Country club, is under water, which
in some places is entering the second
stories
During the afternoon force of police
men was sent to a point within three
blocks of the flood area, where they
stopped all sightseers, fearing loss of
life should the embankment at the cut
off give way.
The scene of the shipping port IN the
western end of the city is one of deso-
lation. Here the waters cover the
houses not only to the first and seconQ
floors but in some instances to the
chimneys.
Thousands of people abandoned their
homes in this section two days ago, and
the majority were unable to take any
of their effects with them as it was i'm
possible to secure enough boats to make
the removal.
Last nights wind toppled over several
houses and the waters today carried
them with their contents down stream.
Cold Causes Suffering
| Inc cOlQ weather is causing lnuCl SUI
fering among the people who are being
sheltered in public school buildings,
warehouses and other places. The city
officials have the situation well in hand
and are feeding all the sufferers who
are unable to provide for themselves.
The weather bureau offers little hope
before two days, the statement of Dis
| trict Forecaster Waltz reading:
THE river will continue to rise stead
lily for the next thirty.siX to forJy-four
hours and will probably reach a 40-foot
stage at Louisville and n 56foot stage
at Madison, Ind, Monday.
"The crest of the flood cannot yet be
determined exactly, as general rains
have fallen over the watershed during
the past twenty-four hours, which may
further augment the flood wave, but it
is believed the crest will be reached
| Tuesday morning.
"The crest was reported AT Catletts
burg last night, registering sixty feet,
and the river is now falling at Catletts-
burg and above"
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