The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-09-17
Portland and Corpus Christi
Heaviest Sufferers in
Storm District.
TIDAL WAVE IN HAVANA
Twenty Soldiers at Rest Camp
Swept Out Into Bay-Dam-
age to Coast City.

81.
Figures compiled early today fol-
lowing interrupted wire communica-
ton with eight towns and cities along
the torpado-swept Texas gulf coast
place the number of known dead
killed in the tornado which swept the
Texas shore Sunday, at 252.
State and municipal authorities am
relief workers say this number wi
be greatly increased as wire COZ =
munlcation is established with :
merous sparsely populated coast J
lagos which have been compile
cut off from the outside world :
Sunday.
Telephone and telegraphic n
munication with the storm region was
restored temporarily during the night
and from flashes received here the
following list of dead was compiled:
Sinton, Tex, rs.
Portland, Tex, Sc.
Corpus Christi, Tex, AZ.
White Point, Tex, 20.
Rosita, Tex, 27.
Port Aransas, Tex, 6.
Aransas Pass, Tex, 4.
Rockport, Tex, s.
Gedt1S ny ! lOal wave.
A message reaching here during
the night from Havana, Cuba, states
that thirty persons lost their lives
when the tidal wave slruck that city.
Twenty men at the government
resting camp for soldiers at Corpus
Christi were among those killed, ac-
cording to one report. These men
were swept out into the bay when
the tornado struok the camp. The
soldiers were from units stationed at
Brownsville. Tex. Capt. B. NJ. Edge
land, who was in command of the
rest camp, is believed to have been
lost with these men. His wife is re-
ported also to have been drowned.
Late last night forty-seyen bodies
had been recovered at Corpus Christi.
Reports Of Other Casualties.
Refugees arriving here during the
night say the5death list will probably
be increased by several hundred as
bodies of victims are being found
many miles from their homes. Re-
lief workers say relief parties are
securing the country thoroughly and
do not expect the death list to ex-
coed 300.
The property damage will run
into millions. some placing the figure
at the present time at $25,000,000.
This does not include the loss of
cattle. Already a number of ranchers
have reported entire herds of cattle
numbering several thousand, lost. 1t
will be several days before an accu-
rate estimate of the property and
livestock loss can be made.
Red Gross at Work.
The Red Cross and volunteer or
ganizations are working untiringly
to care for the homeless and desti-
tute, Fully 5000 are said to be home
less in Corpus Christi alone. Other
cities in the storm zone report hun
dreds helpless and relief organizations
are being taxed to their utmost to
care for these.
From stories told by those rescued
after battling with the water and
wind for from twelve to twenty four
hours, it is known that one of the
homes on the beach at Corpus Christi
was destroyed and practically the en-
tire residential section of the north
beach was wiped out.
The refugees say the big wave
struck the town about 2 o'clock Sun
day afternoon, the water rising four
feet in less than ten minutes. This
was followed in a few minutes by a
larger wave which washed houses
from their foundations. A house torn
from its foundations would be car
ried on the crest of the huge wave
like battering ram against a nearby
structure and both would crumble.
1t is feared that the bodies of sew
eral persons caught in their homes in
this manner have been carried out to
sea and will not be recovered.
Where the railroad tracks were
washed away they were twisted into
the shape of a cork screw one half to
two miles in length.
Until this rail damage can be re-
paired the work of relieving the suf-
fering of the survivors is seriously
handicapped.
Increasing Magnitude.
Corpus Christi, Tex, Sept. Ito
day, more than seventy hours after
the tropical hurricane and tidal wave
that tore huge rents in this Texas
coast city and environs, it was still
to estimate with any de-
gree of accuracy the loss of life or
damage to property.
Each report from searchers, how
ever, revealed the increasing magni-
tude of the disaster. 1t was believed
1t might be a week or more before
It's true extent was known.
The great piles of wreCkage strewn
from one end of the city to the other
may conceal numerous bodies, it is
believed, and today hundreds of men
were at work exploring them.
officials generally were agreed the
death list would be in excess of 100
and some unofficial estimates placed
It as between 200 and 300, with hun
1reds of persons injured or suffering