The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1913-10-10
FLOODS IN TEXAS AND LOUISIANA
LAKE CHARLES, LA, ORANGE AND
BROWNSVILLE, TEX, SUFFER
The Crop Damage is Enormous-De-
vastation to the Rice Crop
Is Very Great.

Floods in Southeast Texas, South
west Louisiana and IN the lower Rio
Grande Valley will cause hundreds Of
thousands of dollars loss on farms,
with considerable property damage, as
the result of swollen waterways fol
lowing excessive rains during the
week last past. No lives are known
to have been lost.
Orange Lake Charles and Browns
vile are the principal points Of flood
attack.
At Orange Adams Bayou has flood
ed a large portion of the town. The
bayou bisects the town, separating
Orange and West Orange. A number
of residences have been vacated and
water stands from six to ten inches
deep in some of the suburban stores.
Sabine River, the eastern boundary OF
the town, is rising, but slowly, and is
yet several inches below the high
mark of last spring.
At Lake Charles street cars have
been forced out of commission by the
disabling of the power plant which
furnishes electric lights for the city,
and the town is in utter darkness,
with the whirl of the rising Calcasieu
River resounding in the ears of anx
ious citizens. Already property dam
age there is extensive and many per
sons are homeless.
At Brownsville, where a break in
the Rio Grande levee Sunday caused
the flooding of part of the city, there
was some relief, the break having
been closed. However, water still
stands over considerable area Of the
suburbs.
Across the river, in the Mexican
town of Matamoros, hundreds were
rendered homeless by encroaching
flood waters. 1t is believed the crest
of the Rio Grande flood has passed
and no further trouble there is feared
The flood shut off communication
between Matamoros and Brownsville
the international bridge having been
rendered impossible, and the ap
proaches to the wagon ferry having
been flooded
Damage to the rice crop of South
east Texas and Southwest Louisiana
is enormous; so great that an ade
quate estimate can not at this time
be made. In the Rio Grande Valley
little damage to crops was caused by
high water. Indeed, the opposite eff
feet obtained. The country has been
given an excellent foundation for good
yields from the next planting.
Flood waters from the Calcasieu
River had so weakened the Southern
Pacific trestlo and bridge Monday
near Lake Charles that traffic was
suspended after the crossing of the
Oriole in the morning. Hundreds Of
workmen are striving desperately tt
hold the two-mile stretch of newly
filled in track and the bridge on which
half million dollars has recently
been spent. Owing to washouts be
tween Lake Charles and DeQuincy the
Kansas City Southern has suspended
traffic and the Lake Charles anG
Northern is running no trains.
About fifty families have been com
PEELED to vacate their homes, so far
but the rise is slow and the damage
reduced to a minimum.
Reports from the surrounding coun
try tell of flooded conditions every
where, and enormous damage to crops
Only a small portion of the rice il
the Lake Charles section has beer
thrashed. Thousands of acres hac
been cut and the rice stacked in thu
fields and other thousands are un
harvested. 1t is feared that most o.
this has been irretrievably lost. Many
farm buildings have been washed
away and much livestock drowned.
Roads Are for the Farmers.