The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1916-02-02
FEARFUL FLOODS
81 .--MANY PERISH
In Valleys Around San
Diego, Cal.
BODIES ARE WASHED TO SEA
In Swollen Rivers-Several
Towns and Villages Are
Swept! Away.
RELIEF WORK Is UNDER WAY


~ SanDiego, Cal, Jan. 29.-(By wir-
IAess to San Francisco. One hun
Idred lives have been lost, as nearly |
as any estimate can show, and |
channing little valleys for fifty miles |
north of the Mexican line lie desc
late tonight from floods and cloud
bursts.
With the death toll in the Otay
Valley seemingly established at tif
ty and all relief agencies working
in that direction, reports reached
here late to-day of floods sweeping
the San Luis Rey and San Pasqual
Valleys, doubling the loss OF life.
With communication almost alto
gether cut off it was impossible to
list accurately the number of dead;
conjectures and meager reports
alone were available.
Seventeen bodies We're taken out
| of San Diego Bay before nightfall
These had been swept down the
| Otay river when the lower dam went
out late Thursday, and the current
of the food was thought to have
carried many others out to sea.
The town of San Diego is virtu-
ally unchanged and supplementary
resources are available to replace its
regular water supply, cut off by the
breaking of the dam.
Many injuries were reported from
Tijuana hot springs, where a hotel
collapsed. A cloudburst, reports
had it, caused the flooding of the
San Luis Rey and San Pasqual Val
leys. The town of San Pasqual, an
ancient village, cuddled in the noun
tains in fertile valley, was said to
have been wiped out altogether.
Railroads, highways, telephone,
telegraph all ordinary means of
communication and relief We're gone
with no prospect of early recovery.
Only the sea remained, and from it
aid began to come. An expedition
from the United States warships in
San Diego Bay was started in
launches and barges for the Otay
! Valley. Reports We're that the first
landing party had been unable to
penetrate the valley for reasons not
given. The destroyer Lawrence
moved down from her station here
and anchored off the mouth of the
Otay river, which stream ran bank
full after being dry for years.
An overland expedition also was
started from San Diego, with pom
toons and engineering equipment by
which it was hoped swollen streams
might be crossed and mired roads
made passable. No word came as
to its success.
No one here knew tonight what
was going on in the outside world
Of even as near as Los Angeles. The |
wireless, the sole means of commu-
nication. except by boat, could not |
begin to handle the business offered |
of even the press dispatches. 1t was |
impossible to estimate the amount |
of relief work to be done because no
word from the stricken valleys con-
veyed any idea of the number or
plight of the survivors.
First reports of the Otay disaster
reached here late Thursday. They
told of ranch houses washed away
and Of cattle and stock drowned.
Investigation appeared to indicate
exceptionally high water. and word
came that the lower Otay dam was
holding. This dam. started as a re-
enforced concrete affair, was chang
ed above the foundation line to a
strip of riveted steel set in concrete
as backbone for loose rock dam.
Engineering magazines throughout
the country commented on 1t and
said that when the reservoir was full
the test Of the construction would
come. The recent rains filled it for
the first time. Last night the food,
bearing human bodies, with fright I
full amount of wreckage, including ,
hundreds of rattlesnakes from the
established, SEEM
ingly beyond all doubt. the collapse
Of the dam. From no other source.
engineers said. could this water have {
come.
The Tijuana river was at its high {