The Sentinel=record., 1912-04-09
DANGER ZONE
 MOVES SOUTH
CREST OF MISSISSIPPI FLOOD AND LEvEE FIGHT NOW CEN.
 TIERS lN THE SOUTH.
Above Helena the Water Has Reced- ed Sufficiently to Preclude Fur ther Damaae-Fear for
 Southern Levees.

The crisis in the Mississippi valley $ tremendous flood is imminent. Chief anxiety tonight centers in the situa- ton along the rivers reaches south of Memphis. If the dikes of Arkansas, Memphis, Mississippi and North Lou isana hold for another S6 hours, then the thousands of persons these em- bankments protect, and the hundreds Of worlSmen who have labored to strengthen the leyees for the su- preme struggle against the yellow tides greatest stress, will breathe wi relief.
 e strife of the next 36 hours will lecide whether scenes of suffer ing and distress along the upper MS sissippi win be re-enacted in the fer tie valleys of the Delta and the Ya- Zoo, south oI Memphis. State and government officials say the dikes on the eastern bank will withstand the tremendous pressure that will be expected by the floods crest Never theless, they are apprehensiye; and fear of breaks along the western dikes tonight is shown by reports of the abandonment of homes and viii ]ages in the lowlands from Helena southwark
 Stirring stories of the rescue of refugees in the floodswept territory of upper Arkansas have reached Mem. phis tonight
 One thousand or more persons ma rooned in Wyanoke. Ark, were brought to Memphis late this after noon. They were rescued through the initiative o1 Memphis citizens com- mttee, which made the hazardous trip to Wyanoke to investigate sto- ries of suffering received from that point The reports were amply veri- fled In a church were found scores of the sufferers who had taken ref nge there when the flood descended. As the deluge increased, the water climbing to the promontory on which stood the church, the refugees built seaffolding with pews and titus kept their heads above tEe floods sur face. On high grou-l and m the at tics of houses near WyanoSe, hun dreds or more Jisi'ors were found. All were brought 70 Memphis his aft ernoon They will receive ample care.
 Refugees from the Modoc flood district, south of Memphs. who we're taken to Helena and Memphis tocay, say there has been some lie lost in that section. These reporls are Ln- verified, and the mayor of Helen to- night sent to the Associated Press an emphatic statement deelartug there had been no fatalities from the breaks south of his city.
 Unofficial estimates of the dauage vary widely. Many persons who know every bend in the great river from New Orleans to Cairo say the pecuniary loss will mount to ten mil- lions. Other persons equally conver- sant with the situation moJitg this estimate Probably the heaviest spe- eifis loss must be estimated in the destruction of homes, the loss of live stock and the damage to manufa1tlir- ing plants in the upper flood distr,et The number of fatalities has been small as a matter of course. Prompt warnings have preceded the rivers rise, and residents of the threatened districts have been more or less alert. Probably thirty fatalities would meet the conservative total
 There has. however, been tremen- dous suffering among the homeless. Of the sO,00O or more persons who have been driven forth by the raging tide, hundreds have gone hungry and without water for many hours before succor reached them.
 Hundreds have been imprisoned on housetops, in trees and on anchored rafts for long periods. Despite the ample warnings given, many of the Arkansas and Tennessee homestead CTS remained by their property till the last minute. and then scores of them were taken from their flood-im- posed places of refuge half naked.
 The situation in Memphis tonight is rapidly assuming it's normal. Street cars have resumed service in the comparatively small flooded district of the citys lowlands.