The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-02-01

from the sides OF the mountain
ranges and demolished the little
towns in their way. >. 9
Destruction Heavy ,sa =. TX
Reports from Otay, which is nearer
to this city than San Luis Rey and San
Pasqual, announce that the destruction
there viii be far Greater tLan WIS at
first reported. A wall of yellow, froth..
ing water burst from the book en- dam
Friday evening, and wiping up every,
thing before it as IL swept forward
rolled down upon the towns Of Otay
and Palm City and South San Diego.
Scores Of people are believed 10 have
persisted and the death list in that III.
rection is said to beat least flfty and
possibly more, for none will ever he
able TO count the persons swept along
with the tide and into the bay, and
finally into the Pacific. il ~, .at.
Seventeen Bodies Pound o.. -
The first reports from the Otay work
ers, numbering, scores from San Diego,
Lemon Grove, Chula Vista and Nation.
al City, declare that seventeen bodies,
of Otay ranchers, their wives and their
children have been found already, al.
though the search has but just COM
The whole of the Otay elton was
ravished by the food, millions upon
millions of gallons of storm winters,
which after .seepihg for years through
the insufficient dam, finally burst their
way clear to the sea. 1t is said by
those who saw, that a wall of water,
thirty feet high and two miles wide !,
carrying on its crest the shattered re
mains of houses and harms, Toured
through the funnel of the Tia Juana
valley like a mill race. Fortunately
the food subsidized as qritkly as i'll
came, or the. damage would have beenl
tenfod greater. - - 4
Dam Leaking For Years 4
Engineering experts sent out to the
former site of the 0tay dam reported \
yesterday that they believe three hun.
dred thousand gallons of water daily |
have been leaking through the make I
shift dam for years and that this seep- /
age proved fatal to the foundations of |
the structure when the strain of the /
storm waters came upon it recently. !
The iSweetwater dam, fears for which y
were expressed last night, is now said
TO be holding well. .-,.Ez.,,l--. Z. ]
Rescue parties were sent out Friday
night and more followed yesterday !
One hundred and fifty men
from the warships ia the harbor were
sent to the lower end of San Diego Bay
to assist in hunting for bodies washed !
down the valley and into the bay. 1t
was there that most of the sew 1nteen
bodies were discovered, jammed among
the floating wreckage Of ranch homes,
miles away from their sites.
Rescuers Take Pontoons /
An overland expedition started from
this city yesterday morning equipped
with pontoons, but owing to the, state
of the roads they had not been able
to reach the valley late last night with |
their equipment. - ."f'
The weather here is still vile, and
great gusts of rain, driven by high
winds eohtinne 10 make any work out, !
doors almost impossible. +.
The San Diego water supply is much
,urtailed. Communication with otay
valley remains severed National City |
and Chula Vista, two suburbs, are re-
ported to be severed from their water
sources and in danger of water fam
ne. .
1t is believed that the great wall of
water swept many bodies into the sea
which never will be recovered
1t Is reported here that Tia Juaha,
Mexico, is under water, owing to the
leavy rains and rising foods The
ace track is said TO have been carried
way The Tia Juana river is the
highest in its history, and probably
many have been drowned. E. |
Iotel collapses - ~. H. ,.....s.,. I
Worse than all of this is the eollapse
4 the hotel Just completed at Tia-l
llane' This structure, In which there !
we're many guests, sheltering from the
torn began to sag when the food
cached II, and collapsed completely