Omaha daily bee., 1919-04-08
STORM RELIEF AT
Hand, BUT few
IN NEED OF AID.
Million Estimated
r Loss; TWeIve-Year-0Id
!. Girl Victim May Die
From Injuries.

that most of the damaged houses
are covered by tornado insurance
and that the loss will. therefore, fall
chiefly on the underwriters.
Most Carry Insurance.
"A great many Of the damaged
homes are built on the building and
loan association plan." he said "un-
der which tornado insurance IS COM
pulsory and there will be no loss
TO the owners. A large number of
the big homes of Dundee and other
affected districts also carried tor
nado insurance"
Soldiers from Fort Omaha were
on guard yesterday and last night in
Ill the stricken districts. No auto
mobiles were allowed inside these
areas unless by special permission.
Thousands of sightseers on foot
yiewed the wreckage.
The work of rehabilitation started
early Telephone rnemen started
putting up new poles for those that
had been snapped off and stringing
new wires. Scores of telephones
were "out OF commission"
The total area covered by the tor
nado in Omaha is about five square
miles.
Apeculiar feature of the storm is
its similarity to the tornado of March
Is, 1918. which wrought such great
damage and loss Of life. in Omaha.
That tornado also appeared on Sum
sday and on Sunday afternoon. That
Nlay, also, had been one of humidity
Karfd lowering clouds and sort of
nature. bent oh destruc-
stion."
4 The 1918 tornado also came from
The southwest and proceeded to the
northeast II was just six years and
6wo weeks ago Sunday that the big
@ornado visited Omaha. %H.
8 Strikes at Intervals. ~
4 This was the thought that was in
he minds OF the people who met the
Tornado Of Sunday. By great good
fortune this one was swerved away
from the city's thickly populated dis
trict and was, moreover, of such dis
position that it leaped along and
touched the houses only here and
there
But where it struck it struck hard
Chairs driven through the sides OF
houses. Brick and frame houses de-
molished like the proverbial house
OF cards" interior doors actually
torn from their hinges and hurled
down the stairs, roofs lifted from
houses and deposited in yards a
block or two away, all these things
bear testimony to the terrible force
OF the wind in the upper air. q.
Automobiles were picked from the
street and deposited masses OF
wreckage, on lawns.
The downpour of rain which fol-
lowed the tornado caused an i'm.
nfense amount of damage to interior
walls, floors and furniture. Two
transforms followed the "twister.'
The last one, after midnight, was a
fair "cloudburst" and the water
poured down into dozens of roofless
homes, doing thousands of dollars
worth of damage to the unprotected
interiors. .....
Partoled BY Soldiers.
Mayor Smith and members of the
city council visited the storm zone
early yesterday morning.
1T is bad. but it might be WORSE
remarked the mayor.
The district was patroled by sol.
diers. Linemen, insurance ad.
justers, spectators and others served
to enliven the streets where homes
had been damaged.
Few Distress Cases.
A. careful canvass Of the situation
showed that there was only few
cases where distress followed de-
istruetion of property, and these
eases are being cared for. The Us.