Milford chronicle., 1915-08-13
70 DEAD IN
ERIE FLOOD
The Property Loss VIII Reach
S5,OOO,OOO.
% BODIES RECOVERED

Many Plants and Dwellings Were
Crushed by Rushing Waters and
Business Section Of City Is a Scene
of Devastation.
Twenty-eight bodies recovered,
eighteen of which have been identi-
fed and a list Of names Of fifteen
known missing persons, is the correct
toll of victims OF Tuesdays flood in
Erie, Pa.
Coroner Hanley said he thought the
death list would reach seventy-fve,
being swelled by the probable loss of
a number of foreigners whose houses
were swept away on the banks of the
creek at Ninth street.
Working in relays, under a scorch.
ing sun, police, firemen and volunteers
continued their search in the masses
of wreckage piled along Mill creek for
the bodies sti1 believed to be in the
debris.
Anxious crowds moved from tenn.
porary morgue to temporary Inorgue
every time the report was spread that
another body had been recovered.
The work of clearing up the city
was begun in earnest. The naval mil
itia was called out to reinforce the
national guardsmen on duty guarding
the stricken section, and sightseers
we're kept away from the working
gangs.
Estimates Of the damage continue
to mount as the extent of the food
becomes apparent. Where 1t was be.
lieved that $3,OOO,O00 would cover the
loss, it was said that $5,O00,OOO prob.
ably would be nearer the correct esti.
mate.
While the cloudburst that dropped |
on the city did considerable damage,
the catastrophe resulted almost Who'll.
ly from the bursting of the dam, sew.
eral miles to the eastward of Erie.
Mill creek, always a turbulent stream,
was sed-dammed-by the ex.
penditure of considerable money,
burst its bounds and went on a ram.
page that swept everything before its
onrush.
As the dam burst a vast volume of
water was released, so that it swept
onward and lifted the concrete bridge
over the creek as if it were paper.
The water swept over meadows for
the first mile and gained momentum
as it crashed and swirled along. It
tore houses from their foundations,
uprooted trees, swept away bridges,
and when it reached the heart of the
city spread in its area until it leaped
all bounds and flooded the main street
to depth Of five feet.
The swirl of the water caught troll.
ley cars in the flood zone and flung
them like toys against telegraph ]
poles. Brick buildings in the path Of
the waters were battered into ruins
and still the tide Of the creek kept
rushing toward the lake. Scores Of
houses were demolished and scores Of
stores were razed and carried away.
The bridges went rapidly, and the c
steel and concrete served to clog the I
stream and divert the course of the a
current to French and Hol. v
and streets, where it struck the cen. t
raj residential portion of the city.
Dwellings, there were broken into de.
iris, while automobiles were picked
Up and smashed. In all twenty of the d
wrecked machines were found. il
When the waters came in their fury a
by the immense food e
.ue to the cloudburst, most Of the Ii
esidents along the creek front were b
t supper. The speed with which the
.ood raced along caught them in
rap, and they were thrown into the
reek as house after house crumbled. S,
score or more of lives were lost be- N
DIV Fourteenth street, where the et
oOl reached its height. al