The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-09-04
FLOOD LOSS s2,OOO,OOO
Railroads Heaviest Losers Crops
Badly Damaged.
AUGUSTA WAS RAGING SEA
Main Business Street Eight Feet Under
Water-.Sixty Lives Were
Probably Lost.

Augusta, Ga.--Tne most serious
food in twenty years swept over Au-
gusta and other cities in Georgia and
the Carolinas, resulting in the report
ed death Of twenty-five persons, =
property loss of approximately over
million dollars, blocking traffic and
cutting off all communication by wire
and telephone.
Following the break~of the big dam
at the head of the Augusta canal,
practically every street in that city
was covered with water and many OF
the stores were abandoned.
The river at Augusta reached
ENheight Of thirty-eight feet and the wa
ter was two and one-haf to four feet
deep in Broad street
|. \. The canal, dams broke and added
to the seriousness of the situation.
The losses to the railroads on ac-
count of damage to tracks and des-
Iitruction Of trestles and bridges are
enormous.
The water completely flooded
Broad street, the principal street and
i the plant of the Augusta Herald was
Isput out Of business.
FOns the, Ocmulgee river are Haw-
| .kinsMlle.. and Abbeville and on the
Ccorees river is Dublin. All three OF
were flooded. u
Z. While the waters were rushing like
a great sstfeamethrough thei streets Of
Augusta, fire broke cut dnsthe Nixon
cotton and grocery warehouses, and
for time threatened surrounding
property
The fire department was absolutely
helpless, and citizens gazgd, at the
blaze doing it's work, andi-hoped for
the best. The buildings we're destroy
ed, but fortunately the horrors Of
general ;confagrstion were spared the
panic.stricken inhabitants, and the fire
.:ESs confined to the warehouse. It Is
Lsaid the blaze was started by the wa,
I TOR reaching some lime in ipne of the
/ Warehouses, causing an explosion.
u. AS the water receded many Build.
l.,tngst collapsed, their foundations hav-
|. ing been undermined blythe water
| Among the most importaIit Buildings
destroyed in this manner Gre the Ma
tional Biscuit company's building, the
Central Grammar School, Sthes David,
son Grammar School Qbothischopls.aFe
the property of the city OF Augusta),
the Nelson-Mo warehouse and the
Triangular block. .'fa~yf
AS to the loss of life,s twenty-five
bodies have been recoTgrsd;A Ind
corpses are found every hour or so.
The captain Of the river tsEteameT /,
Swan reports that he saw on the up.
trip at least twenty-five Tcorpses- All
81
white man. There ard reports or
many drownings among negro farm 4
hands in the lower valley. The.sAus'
gusta Chroicle estimates the death
LIST ;i ~ sixty ~ q
farmers worked like demons,
hauling crops and farm implements
and driving cattle to the uplapds out
of reach of the water which flooded
that district. Railroad Schedules
,;, were deranged. Ten washouts" were
reported on the Charleston and West
seH CAROLINE. and several on the
Southern, between here and Column
bia. ~ y a,
CamdenA S. C. - The watAree
bridge at this place was s,cwaHhed, 4
away with the probable loss pf nine
teen lives. ~ ,s.s 40
The river, greatly swollen aby the.
tremendous rains of the past forty
Eight hours, caused the: bridge to give
wayt wh&nya number of RATS and
other, craft jammed intoz the iron
structure. The destroyed bridge cost
$4,000. ~ s
Columbia, S. C.--Rep0rts from Spar
tanburg and Anderson counties tell
of unprecedented rains in the fPied-
mont section of South Carolina, re.
sulting in great damage to property,
forcing power plants to close down,
thus. cutting off the source of power
>qf a. number Of. cotton mills, electric
light plants and iother enterprises.
+, .Spartanburg county was under wa
ter for forty-eight hours. 1t is estl-
mated that $150,00O will not cover
the damage to bridges in the county,
dozen or more having been wash
ed away.
,Ehe4s great dam across Lawson's
Fork at Whftnex Mil. three, miles
north Of Spartanburg, was swept away
by the Hood! tArtTafa, on the Charles
ton and Western Carolina railway
ran into washout and the. engine
x.roc dttnhad -