The Ely miner., 1915-08-20
GALVESTON STRUCK
BY FURIOUS STORM
FLOOD AND FIRES DESTROY
LIVES AND PROPERTY
IN TEXAS.
WATER TEN FEET IN STREETS
Practically All Homes Are Evacuated
and People Gather in Hotels
City Left in Darkness Because
of Damaged Wires.

New Orleans, La, Aug. 1S.-Gal.es.
ton, Texas, is safe and the water in
the streets is receding, according to
a wireless message direct from Calves
ton. The message estimated the loss
due to the flood at more than $1,000
900. Five persons perished. Two
huge fires now raging are monopoliZing
the attention of the fire department.
The government transport McClel-
land was reported to have been dam
aged.
A party of refugees reached here
from Galveston, having made the trip
In an automobile. Members of the
party said the waters covered the
streets when they left, but that the
flood even then had begun to recede.
The wind velocity they said was less
than thirty miles an hour. The re-
fugees reported numerous craft were
destroyed in Galveston harbor, but
that none of the larger ships were
sunk.
Ship Half Mile inland.
Dallas, Tex, Aug. 18.-Wireless mes
sages from Galveston gave the only
direct news from that city. No definite
news of loss of life has been reported,
but the desperate situation in which
the citizens of Galveston fonud them
selves was indicated vaguely by the
statement in late wireless message
that boats were taking people from
buildings on the main streets to the
United States transport Buford.
The tropical hurricane which swept
down upon the island city extended
its devastation inland and wireless
communication was impossible beyond
Waco. Beaufort, Taylor, Temple and
other cities of Southeast Texas were
thought to have been hard hit by the
storm, the last reports from those
places telling of unroofed buildings,
uprooted trees and other damage.
Although latest reports from Calves
ton by wireless indicated that the
storm was subsiding there and that
the water had started to drain slowly
from the streets, there was no pros
be restored for several days. Hundreds
Of miles of wires are down, and thou
sands of poles prostrated.
The army transport Bufords wire
less outfit was the sole means of COM
munication between Galveston and the
outside world. Her companion ship,
the Mcclellan. was high and dry, half
q mile inland
Worst Storm in Years.
Galveston, Texas, via wireless to
Fort Sam Houston and telephone to
San Antonio, Aug. 1S.-Galveston has
passed through one of the worst
storms within the last fifteen years and
is ready to repair the damage done by
hurricanes.
Five feet of water stands in the
city and is slowly draining off.
The United States transport Nc
Clellan, broke from its moorings and
drifted half mile out to seaward.
The commercial wireless station at
Port Arthur is out of communication
and the big aerial masts at Fort Croc-
ket here are down.
The greatest damage now suffered
is that to crops and farm houses along
the coastal plains where the storm is
still raging. The United States wealth
er service has given the population
a wide section along the coast ample
warning and it is believed that most
of the people have taken advantage of
II.
A report from San Antonio, the near
est point to Galveston from which
readings were received, said that at z
a. m. a forty-two mile wind was
blowing from the north but without
rain.