The Johnson City comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1916-1917, 1916-07-27
STIRRING
FLOOD SCENES
TURNER PICTURES SCENES DUR
ING BIG FLOOD.
GREAT DAMAGE DONE
SEES SCORES OF HOUSES AND
BIG BRIDGE SWEPT AWAY.
By H. A. (HaD Turner.
Asheville, N. c.. July II, 1916

Dear Plflng Line:
Flood bound in Asheville. High ant
dry on a mountain and tioodbank
That is the state l find myself in
Saturday night or Sunday morning
sometime there was a cloud burs
further up the Blue Ridge
Like all travelling statesmen with {
good weeks business behind them,
slept soundly and wondered III the
morning why tha lights wera not
working in my room, and when
went to it, why, the elevator refused
to rise to my call. Well. l wasn't
long in finding out. mo power -
coffee, rollG and eggs in n hurry, and
thsn to tie river. 1t wasn't a river
any more; it was the sea serpent
come to land, and it constantly en-
deavored to take in more Of it. It's
one desire seemed to be 10 grab any
thing dry an1 submerge it. AS a de-
stroyar of valuables, it strove to imi-
tate the reports of the progress of
Garman almy through Belgium, and
as a cleaner of waste, any municipal
sanitary commission would receive
valuable instruction as to poss,bili-
ties of action had they watched it..
In, the two and half hours | saw
twenty-five houses either come down
from above or picked up from the
bank right before me and go to de-
structicn against the steel bridge
which spanned the French Broad be-
low the concrete city bridge and
above the concrete railroad bridge.
For an hour after | reached the scene
the steel bridge withstood the attack
of water and wreckage; then it curv-
ed at the center, halted a moment
and gave way, and Immediately after
the remaining section tore loose and
rolled over into the bed of the river.
This left free passage for further
wreckage to attack the concrete rail
road bridge, and the bombardment
was steady and heavy.
In addition to houses, | saw whole
lumber yards go by and three box
cars. There were any number of
xuith Inv l. / In lIlp1hpr
which struck that bridge and tore
themselves to pieces Wonder of
wonders, the bridge stands today
triumph for concrete as bridge ma
terial. There will not even be any
repair work necessary except to the
bank, which was washed away at one
approach.
Many pathetic scenes there were as
families who had hastily left their
dwellings watched the water rise
higher, almost by feet instead of
inches, until it wrenched loose what
had been home and made wastage of
it almost Immediately after. One lit
tie woman smiled up into the face of
her husband at once after their
house was crushed to bits against the
bridge land it looked like smile of
confidence instead of one of helpless
nessJ and said:
There it goes, Will, all we had;
but we are young yet and have health
and can start over"
A lady sanding near, who heard
her, said to me-
"All the heroes aren't in the
trenches" m
Today the river is falling rapidly.
Relief committees are at work and
soon all will be cared for. Early esIi-
mates put damages at $10,000,00o.
Who can tell? Water reached the
ceiling of the waiting room in the
depot. I don't know how long shall
be marocned here without light or
street cars. There is a babyhood
sniff" to my room when / blow out
the candle at. night and get a whiff
of the smoke!