Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1915-09-30
Great Damage and Loss of
Life Probable in seve-
raj Places
NEW WsORLEANs CUT OFF
Gale Reaches l2O Miles--sweeps Out
orf West Indies--Danger to Ship
ping Slight.

Beaumont, Tex. Sept. 3O-lt VIII
bc hours before full toll taken by the
+errif;c hurricane which swept out OF
N. West Indies over New Orleans
and contiguous territory can even De
closely estimated
Early today wire communication re-
mained paralyzed. Railroads were MI
almost rs hard. Confirmed reports
This forenoon were that at least ten
persons were killed outright, many
injured and damage amounting 10 a'
least q million dollars done.
The height of the storm was reach
ed between 6 and Z O'Clock last n'ght'
when the wind attained an average
velocity of over eighty miles an hour
Occasional gusts reached l2o miles an
hour.
Railroad and wire communication
out of New Orleans has been cut on
and telephone, electric light and troll
lev service discontinued.
Shreveport, La. has beenc cut OH from
communication since 10 o'clock last
night.
The Masonic Temple is wrecked ana
many schools and churches are badly
damaged. Owing to storm warnings
by the weather bureau, the danger to
shipping was slight for small craft.
Mobile, Ala, Sept. 30-Millions OF
dollars in damage has been done to
New Orleans ard The country near i
by the worst gulf storm in the history
of that section, according to wireless
messages received here late last night
It is feared there has been a large
loss of life. The wireless operator on
board the steamer Excelsior at New
Orleans said at least five bodies had
been found at one point.
"A hurricane registering from eighty
six to ninety miles an hour swept
northward through$the city, demollsh-
ing scores of buildings, unrootng
hundreds of others, and filling the
flooded streets with wreckage. 1t is
feared many lives have been lost IN
the collapsed structures.
All wires are down and the only
messages coming from the stricken
city are the fragmentary wireless dis
patches sent by the steamships near
the city. The steamship Comus, of the
Morgan Line, now at New Orleans,
sent wireless message at II o'clock
last night which was picked up at
Galveston and other places stating:
AT New Orleans waters from the
gulf are backed up and country flood
ed back of leves Great damage and
probable loss OF life
Bodies of persons were seen floating
in the flooded Mississippi below New
Orleans before communication stop
ped and at that time the walls con-
tanning the mouths of the delta of the
great river had broken.
The wind which blew from the south
at a speed of between fifty and nine
ty miles an hour, backed the gulf
water up into the Mississippi, past
New Orleans, raised the guage in
Lake Ponchartrain from six to twelve
feet and flooded all that section of
the State.
The flood plunged New Orleans in
to darkness last night, filing the cleo
trio power houses, stopping all traf-
fc and business.
The business section of Biloxi, Miss,
is under six feet of water. and there,
too, all business has stopped and the
city is in darkness. The same condi-
tions prevail in other nearby cities
and towns.
The Creole, of the Morgan Line,
was making her way up the lower
reaches of the Mississippi toward
New Orleans when she sent her last
wireless message. She then had seen
two bodies in the flood, many houses
had been washed away, and apparent
ly great damage to property was
being done. From this message it is
believed the loss Of life will be found
TO result from tho flood IS we'll a.,
, from the wind.