Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1909-09-02
SANTA cATARINA RIVER CARRIES
AWAY PEOPLE TO SUDDEN
DEATH DURING NIGHT.
OVER $4,000 MADE HOMELESS
Property Loss is si2 1000, Stricken
Mexican Town, Where 9e Hours
Rain Continues, Appeal TO the
Untd States for Aid.

Montery, Mexico-Eight hundred
persons drowned, $4,000 homeless and
property damage to the extent of S12.
100000 is the result of a food which
| struck this city when the Santa Clara
river overlooked.
The CITY is in darkness. Some of
the losses are:
The Montery Steel company, $1,000.
600; the Mexican Smelter and Lead
company. 100000.
The city begs aid from the United
States.
Hundreds of persons were awakened
in the night to be swept to death as
the river, which reached a width of a
mile and a half, became swelled by the
water from the mountain sides, fol-
lowing seventy-two hours of continu-
GUS rain.
Most of the houses are built of adobe,
which could not withstand the waters,
and were washed away dissolving as
they went while the hapless families
trapped in their dwellings, drowned.
Not one chance in a thousand for es-
cape was given them.
Twenty Inch Rainfall.
Other thousands fed to safety, clad
in a single garment and carrying their
children and what belongings they
could gather up. These are the home
less ones
One by one these homes, built of
adobe and stone. are collasping and
carrying tenants to death. The flood
Is the worst in the history Of any
one living here.
No train has come into Monterey
for twenty-four hours. Railway and
telegraph lines are down and many
miles of track are washed away. The
fate of trains and passengers is not
known, but 1t is feared many persons
are in danger.
It is estimated twenty inches of rain
fell in seventy-two hours Water
works and electric light plants are out
of commission and street car wires
have fallen into the streets.
Feared PestiIence Will Follow.
1t is greatly feared pestilence will
follow the food. Police and soldiers
are doing their best to relieve the suf-
fering, but the visitation was so unex-
pected no formal organization was pre-
pared to combat with the situation.
Poorer classes from the river dis
tTiCt are huddled by thousands in
churches, hospitals, public places and
city buildings, waiting for the rain to
I,,r n,,l
and blindly waiting for something 10
end their distress.
The scene in the flood-swept section
Of Monterey is one of utter desolation.
Four city blocks on the south side
have disappeared completely, and it is
believed the tenants drowned.
For seventy-two hours rain has fall
len in unprecedented volume through
out this section, and the Santa Cata-
rina rose gradually all day Friday, the
crest of the flood reaching Monterey
early Sunday At first it was thought
there would be no loss of life, but the
water had height never before at.
tanned and swept buildings from their
foundations by the score.
The electric light plant was put out
OF commission last night and the COM
plete darkness was an added horror.
Cries of the drowning could be heard,
but the on-lookers were powerless to
render aid
When daylight came the scene was
indescribable. All through the flooded
district, groups could be seen huddled
on the tops of two-story buildings en-
tirely surrounded by a tumulting.
seething mass of water.
One by one these houses disap-
peared with their human freight.
Nothing could live In the wild current
of the Santo Catarina river, which was
running at the rate of twenty miles an
| hour.
During the early morning hours the
water remained stationary and It was
noon before a fall of four feet began.
| BY o'clock this afternoon the river
was back In its banks, only to go out
of them again at o'clock because of
the continued downpOur of rain.
The great steel plant at Monterey
suffered loss of nearly a million dol
lars by the flood, and the smelter of
the Mexican Lead Company is cut of
from the city and submerged. 1t is es-
timated that the loss at this plant will
be more than $3.00Of000.
The Santa Catarina river runs al
most directly through the center o.
Monterey. Along it's right banks is
located the suburb Of San Luisito, in
habited by the poorer element.
1t was in this section the greatest
loss of life occurred. for the greater
part of the suburb is composed of one
.to,.,, o5ohaa