The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-07-26
FLOOD CONDITIONS
BECOMING NORMAL
Twenty-F0ur Victims Have
Been Accounted For
LIST is INCOMPLETE
NJ.
LIST is INCOMPLETE
From Reports More Than Three Score
We're Killed in Wednesdays
Flood = West Virginia Is
Practically Cut Off

Pittsburg, July Or - Conditions
throughout the flood are becom-
ing normal tonight. -, y-four vic
Tins of the flood h, . . on accounted
for. The deaths 2 : = ny others are
supposed to hay ~ place in coal
mines. now hoe y y water and will
take many da, = % ring in an accurate
fatality list s. m what has been
learned tor q more than three score
of person Q . their lives in torrential
rains of fday
1t has I en- impossible to line up
the list because most places are iso-
lated and have been since Sunday
While nothing definite has been heard
from the Reastone valley, it is said
tonight that quite number of miners
had been drowned
Communication has been established
with number of points in West Vir
ginia. All report severe storm but
can tell nothing of conditions in other
parts of the state which tonight are
isolated. Three deaths are reported
from Fairmont; two had occurred at
Monongahela. Practically two-thirds OF
West Virginia Is cut off from COM
munication. In western Pennsylvania
It is case of cleaning up debris. The
Pennsylvania railroad put 500 men to
work between Connellsville and Union
town clearing up the tracks The tracks
and road foundations were swept COM
pletely away. Within a radius of so
miles in Pennsylvania the flood water
q fn G.
tracks, wreck buildings and carry away
practically all the small bridges
Women Threaten Vengeance
Tonight at Uniontown foreign wom-
en-. wives of victims drowned yester-
day, have threatened vengeance upon
the mine bosses for their failure to
notify their husbands of the approach
ing danger The women contend they
notified the bosses of the approaching
flood waters in ample time. One wom-
an whose husband was drowned in the
mine yesterday has gone insane. In the
Monongah valley all streams are ris-
ing. Many persons have been driven
from gtheir homes and much damage
has resulted.
unaecounted for today Reports early
In the day had been to the effect that
2s were lost. The Mongahela river rose
rapidly here today and tonight reached
the flood stage of 39.45 feet, and efob-
ably will go higher. In all sections
Of western Pennsylvania similar con-
ditions prevail
Yesterdays storm drove hundreds of
families from their homes residences
were damaged or completely demol-
ished; streets were torn up by the
mile or piled high with tons of de-
brls carried by the flood waters
Poles were levelled and wires dropped
to the streets, blocking communication
from many points and causing dark
ness at many others. Railroad and
street car facilities were practically
suspended until after midnight when
washed out tracks were repaired or
debris moved along some of the routes.
Dunbar, Pa. nine miles west of
Uniontown. is the center of the region
of desolation in Pennsylvania The
flood waters swept away homes and
business houses did serious damage to
mines, furnace and coke plant prop
critics and spread terror to the hearts
of thousands.
Telephone Gave Warning
The flood reached Dunbar at 2:15
p m. J. W. Fonner of the Central ho-
tel was at bis desk when the tele-
phone bell rang. on the other end
of the line was Albert Dunn the book
keeper of the A. v. Purnell bluestone
quarries, two miles above the town.
There's an awful flood coming" he
said. Warn the people quick All the
dams above here have burst
The speaker shouted The man at the
other end dropped the receiver and
rushed into the street. with all the
strength of his lungs Fonner shouted
to the people In the streets to run
for their lives TO the hillsides. The
alarm spread like wildfire and in an
instant buildings and stores were va
Gated by droves of people who rushed
pellmell for safety on high ground.
The warning came none too soon
Fonner says 1t was one of the quickest
rushes of water imaginable.
The financial loss In the three states
will aggregate an enormous sum. Any
attempt to estimate 1t now would be
mere speculation. There are hundreds
OF families homeless except for their
temporary shelter of tents and shacks.
but the waters began to recede after
daylight and as the weather is ex-
trenlely warm there seemed to be lit
tie of the prolonged suffering that
comes in the wake of flood torrents in
prospect.
Floods in these regions are. OF an
annual occurrence. for which prepar-
alton is made and comparatively lit
tie damag Is done: freshets caused by
heavy summer rains occur several
times a season. but the heavy precip-
itations are carried away with only
small accompanying damage.
Second Flood
The cloudburst of yesterday came be-
fore the district had recovered from
more than "a hours of torrential rains
on Sunday and with every stream
bank full. soon all were pouring their
floods into surrounding country The
flood proved Its strength by splitting
mammoth rocks. heavy railroad steel
was lifted from almost solid beds and
dropped into rivers. while deep scars
mark the surface of the earth where
the crowding waters have made new
courses for themselves.
Railroad traffic through a great ter
ritory Is demoralized. With four con-
nections into Uniontown, the Pennsyi-
yania railroad was unable TO get pas
sengers into the city this forenoon.
Several railroad bridges OF the Penn
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