Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-06-14
People Of East Topeka Forced to
Escape Without Warning.
FLOOD AT KANSAS CIT
Weather Service Says Crest Will
Reach City Today.
THIRTY FEET Is EXPECTED
This VIII Inundate Union station
and Packing Houses In East
Bottoms Rain Sttu
Falling.

KANSAS CITY, June 13.-Unttsd states
weather Forooastsr Conner has warned
the residents and Business men Of Armour
daia. Kan. ths weat bottoms Of Kansas
city, no, and other districts near the
Kaw ana Missouri rivers that q food OF
usrious proportions VIII prevail there hy
noon tomorrow. Ths forscastsF szPeets
the EAw 90 register . depth OF az least
thirty feet, almost two feet higher tnan
the highest point when the crest vas
reached Thursday. This VIII take the
water into Union station ana Mood the
east bottoms of Kansas City, no., which
have suffered little thus far In the present
food
The I've stock commission men are NOV
ing All their effects from the first f1OoT
Of the Exchange building and the rail-
roads ars rapidly moving all earS from the
lthrsGsened districts.
Ths highest point reached By the xaw
here In 1909 was thtrty-fivs feet. A hard
rain, which began last night, IL sttn fall
ing hsrs and Al over the Ksw valley
TOPEKA. Kan. June 12-Flood condi-
tions in Topeka are more serious today
than they were earlier in the week. North
Topeka is under water. with the citizens
being rushed out by boats. police patrol
wagons and every available means. In To-
peka proper the city is surrounded by an
overflow Of the Shunganunga, ordinarily a
small stream that flows along the west,
south and east portions Of the city
It is the worst flood the city has expert
enced in years. Houses are inundated for
nearly three blocks along its course In
some Of the houses the water is six feet
deep. Lower Kansas avenue is covered
l. N.avz nUd he'll
Seventeenth street
The fair grounds. where the fair is tn
progress, are suffering and the water is
around the Santa Fe depot. The rise came
so suddenly people were unable to remove
their household effects.
Not only is the water pouring in from
the Kaw river in the old break TO the west
but Soldiers creek. on the north and east
Is overflowing the town and forming q
swift current that is washing away prop
erty that was only in dead water before
! Houses are being re-flooded which had
Just been cleaned ard rendered fit for hab-
itation. A steady stream is flowing scros'
Gordon street around the fire station and
many conservative citizens fear worse con
ditions than in 1903
Heavy Rains stIII Falling.
The Kaw river shows q registration ot
over tventy-four feet at 10 o'clock and Il
: stll rising. Telephone reports from up th'
Kaw valley indicate that a two-inch rair
during Friday night was general west q
saiina. A heavy rain is stin falling here
with every appearance OF a continuance
? through the day.
! In Walnut Grove and that part Of Eas
? Topeka lying south Of Twelfth street and
! comprising about IA blocks. is one grea
]
, feet. the average depth being four feet
, Residents were caught without warning
r and. having no boats TO take them out
abandoned their household effects, beini
generally content TO escape with sufficien
> clothes on their backs.
e New Channel Through City.
n new situation has arisen in eonnectio
l. with the North Topeka flood. The KAV
h river is cutting new channel diagonalI
o across North Topeka between Gordon an
s Grant streets. a distance Of two block,
: This does not necessarily mean that th
4 old channel under the big Melan brtdg
will be deserted. but that there will b
two channels.
? The Missouri Pacific tracks south fron
Seventeenth street are covered with wate
. for q distance Of q mile and q half to
depth OF a few inches TO two feet an
bridges are expected TO go out ever
minute. A freight train got out OF the cit
: safely at o'clock, but traffic is now tie
d up.
e The Santa Fe roadbed is higher and onI
4 in one or two places is the water pourin
n over.
y sALINA Kan. June lS-Mr. and Mr.
? Thomas Kerth, living near PaIco. ver
: drowned last night while fording a creel
I T-a brr
II rent and carried down stream. The bodis
o were found several hours later.
Record Flood for state.
EMPoRIA. Kan. June 2-The Neosh
valley. from Emporia 10 the state Hn'
4 viii experienee the greatest flood since IN
Z early days OF the state. according 70 81
residents The Cottonwood river. a tribJ
u tary of the Neosho lacks but seven fee
OF the 1913 high water mark and is risin
at the rate Of one foot an hour.
In Pitte township, this county. the Col
D. tonwood river has inundated a strip
country nine miles wide.
= The Neosho river is out OF its banks
i Neosho rapids. where il is toine
Il by the Cottonwood. and the flood watel
u caused BY q cloudburst at Council Grov
yesterday have not reached here. Tn
J. Santa Fe continues 70 operate trains. bJ
, BY tonight its outlet 10 the west will /
e shut off. This will also stop the Union Pa
" cific and Rock Island. which have bee
n using the santa Fe tracks
More TrOubIe at Kansas City.
5 KANSAS CITY. June B--Kansas Cit
this morning is confronted with th
r gloomy prospects Of a flood situation I,
morrow worse than that which prevaile
Thursday. when II vas thought that N
u crest OF the overflow from the waters
'f the KaE watershed had reached here an
J. that normal conditions would follow In
% few days.
r. Another extremely heavy rain fell la
N night IN eastern Kansas and western MI