Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-01-31

cation with the outside world, which
has been cut off by floods since last
Thursday, was restored tonight. Au-
thorities and citizens are devoting ev-
cry effort to the relief of want and
distress occasioned by the flooding of
the Otay. Sweetwater. Tia Juana. San
Diego. San Luis Rey ana San Pasqual
valleys.
Three thousand are homeless, accord
ing to an estimate by Ernest F. White,
chairman of the San Diego Relief COM
mittce. Of these 500 are sheltered on
the hillsides at Palm Station the high
est point near Otay City. 1t now ap-
pears that but six persons lost their
lives in Otay City itself. but few of
the refugees escaped with more than
their lives. \ tent colony Of 200 has
been established at San Ysidro.
In other sections. hotels, churches
hospitals and individual homes have
been thrown upon to the refugees.
! The number of bodies recovered in
the Otay valley by United States ma
rines and sailors reached y tonight.
San Diego. Cal, Jan. 30.-(By radio
to San Francisco).-Loot described
| by Rear Admiral Fullam, commanding
! the Pacific reserve fleet, as the worst
| I have ever seen" broke out today in
| the Otayt valley. flood swept by the
breaking of the Otay dam last Friday
| The lower valley was turned into an
| armed camp patrolled by marines and
sailors from the battleship Oregon
| and the cruisers Milwaukee and South
| to shoot looterS on sight.
The sailors and marines toiled hard
| to recover the bodies of those who lost
| their lives in the disaster and at sun
down 20 bodies, some of which were
mutlated. had been gathered together
The loss of life in the Otay valley now
| is estimated at so. while reports that
the cloudburst in San Luis Rey and
| San Pasqual valleys cost no more than
| 10 lives. brought the probable death
list in this section to 80.
| A new flood poured down the Tia
Juana, river today which has risen four
feet at its mouth at the foot of San
Diego bay.
Report Another Dam Bursts
A telephone message from Tecate,
said It was reported there that the
Morera dam 60 miles back in the hills,
| had burst. Officials here. fearing that
| IL billion gallons of water impounded
by the dam would tear new channel
| for the river across Coronado strand
into the sea. ordered the residents Of
| Imperial Beach, hamlet on the strand
to fee.
First news Of the reported collapse
Of the Moreno dam came through An
drew Ervast, city engineer Of Corona
do. Ervast. trying today to reach the
| Mexican town of Tijuana. met a Jap
anese running along the bank OF the
! Tia Juana river.
Get back" cried the japanese in
broken English. Tell people lots wa
| ter coming"
Ervast could see a four foot wave
coming down the river. He turned his
automobile and spread the warning.
| The dam stood 265 feet high in a
narrow gorge and was built of masonry
! and reinforced concrete The water
supply was taken from the reservoir
| formed by the dam by a tunnel into the
creek which fed the lower Otay dam,
| but the natural channel for the water
led into the Tia Juana river. OF the
| 20 bodies recovered in the Otay valley,
only six have been identified.
| Federal troops patrolled the Corona
| do strand long sand spit Offering the
| only means of ingress into the Otay
valley and turned back would-be sight
seers. Each man carried 20 rounds Of
ammunition.
Fifty farm houses. according to per-
! sons acquainted with the Otay valley,
must have stood in the path Of the
flood 1t was estimated that from to
| five persons occupied each. although
| those housing Orientals held large
| number.
Many of these are believed to have
| had time to escape. although it has been
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