Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-08-01
OVER 60 PERISH
IN GREAT FLOOD
It Will Be Several Weeks before
Complete Loss of Life
Is Known.

Pittsburg. July @-Over w lives were
claimed yesterday by floods and cloud
bursts in southwestern Pennsylva mia and
West Virginia, and hundreds of homes
and business houses destroyed. Union
town. Pa leads the list of known dead
| with fifteen.
At Wheeling. w. Va. three were drown
ed; at Lemont. Pa. four drowned; at
| Fleetwood. Pa. three drowned and 90
! lives are reported to have been lost in
| towns OF the two States.
| Uniontown. Lemont, Mount Braddock.
Connelsvllle and Dunbar, Pa. were
inundated. In Turtle creek valley, the
damage IL enormous and scores of families
are homeless in the upper Youghiogheny
valley Railroad traffic through a great
territory is demoralzed, especially so Mt
| tniontown, where the tracks Of two rail-
ways were torn from their foundations.
Several towns are without railroad,
mail. telephone and telegraph connections.
From West Virginia cities no reports can
be obtained because telegraph wires are
down.
1t will be several weeks before the
complete loss of life is known Work
of clearing up the wreckage was begun
to-day.
PEOPLE SLEPT OUT OF DOORS.
Hundreds of families deserving
homes in a mad rush for safety on the
mountain sides sought shelter beneath
| rmproviseI shacks AMI tents, toward
the construction of which every
available piece of debris was turne
to account. At daybreax shivering
| women and children gazed over a
scene of desolation in the upper You
ghiogheny valley. and as the waters
rcceded. upturned dwellings, shatter-
ed buildings ana crumbled piles of
mortar were held in conglomerate
mass by railroad bridge or trestle. or
the progress of the iebris had been
mpeded by some larger and stauncher
building.
1t was long after mi 1night before
the waters began to rccede. Rain mad
ceased to fall some hours earlier but
the heavy precipitation soon made the
unusually dry beds of mountain
streams vcritahle cataracts
| Floods in these regions are of an
annual occurrence, for watch prepara-
ton is made, and comparatively little
damage. The clou 1burst of yesterday.
however. came before the district had
| recovered from more IMAM NWchtS 7iC"'
hours of torrcntial rains on Sunday
and with every stream banw full soon
all were out of their banks
JUST HAD A LIKE DELUGE.
When the disastrous storms. cloud
burst and floods swept over the large
area yesterday, scores of the towns aiiiict
ed were just recovering from similai
deluge which occurred last Sunday morn
ing. Cellars and homes had been freed o
flood water: streets cleared of debris ant
| comm ,u,ication by wire and rail mac
been adjusted Then came yesterday
storm and the towns were again plunged
irto desolatiOn
Hundreds Of families were driven from
their homes and suffered greatly; resi-
= denccs and buildings were damaged o.
= completely demolished. Streets were tori
! I'M by the mile. while others were pile'
c high with tons OF debris carried by IN
D flood water. Poles were uprooted AM
t wires dropped to the streets, ehectuaiI.
4 blocking communication from many view
O ro,nts and causing darkness al many oth
ers Railroad and street car facilit'e
= were practically suspended until afte
i midnight when washed out tracks wer
= repatred or debris moved along some o
the routes.
J. Dunbar. Pa nine miles west of Union
II town ia the center of the region of deSola
= ton in PENNSYLVANIA. The Hood water
d swept away homes and business houses
It did serious damage to mines. furnace an
d coke plants and spread terror into tn
e hearts of thousands.
= The flood came about 2:15 p. m. I
d had n dramatic announcement In tn
j. business section when 1t arrived wit
i terrifying suddenness.
y WARNED BY TELEPHONE.
j. w. Former of the Central Hote
y was at his desk when the telephon
ia hell rang. On the other end of tn
a line was Albert Dunn. the bookkeepe
, of the a. V. Purnell Bluestone quar-
:, lries. two miles above the town.
g There's an awful food comint
n Warn the people quick. All the dam
l. above here have burst" Dunn shoute
If TO Former. who dropped the receive
II and rushed into the street With a
x the strength of his lungs. Fonne
4 shouted to the people in the streets
,e run for their lives to the hillside
The alarm spread like wildfire and
D. an instant buildings and stores wer
OF evacuated by drovcs of people VIII
IN rushed pell nell for safety on hig
ne ground.
n The warning came none too 500
Ill Former says 1t was one OF the "quich
On est rushes of water Imaginable"
ed In no time Dunbar creek was swirlir
to 10 feet above it's normal level under1nil
ing the trolley tracks OF the West PEN
50 Railways company, where they cross Il
IN creek. The Baltimore & Ohio tract
fe alongside were lifted and the abutmel
e. loosened Less than hundred feet belo
st this. the Pennsylvania railroad bridl
On was torn from It's abutment and wit
,g the tracks. carried away. another wrec
on Among the buildings caught in the swir
Nv ing current was the City Hall
r. Almost Identical conditions were g
en- perienced at many others places. hut fe
re- details had been received from the
all early this morning.
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