Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-07-28
PAGE THREE

life and property damage.
In the floods in Ohio and Indiana in
1913 the city hardest hit was Dayton,
where a first estimate placed the dead
at 1000 and the property loss at $780,
100000. When all the figures We're
gathered after the flood, however, it
was learned that the list of dead was
1872 and the property loss $1S0,S73,OO0
for the two states. More than 10000
buildings were flooded.
This disaster in Ohio called forth
great relief efforts on the part of the
Red Cross and many other agencies
and cities. Much of this work of re-
lief was directed from Columbus by
Governor James NJ. Cox.
Texas again was visited by a series
of floods in the Brazos and other val
legs in 1913 and about 500 lives were
lost. The loss in this flood in towns
in Central and Eastern Texas was esti-
mated at more than $50,OOO,O0O. The
cause was %torrential rains.
In 1915 Galveston was revisited by a
hurricane and %inundating seas from
the Gulf Of Mexico and the death list
was placed at 800. The property loss
was put at $5,000,O00. The city this
time was saved from greater damage
by its huge sea wall which had been
built after the 1900 storm to. protect
the city against a similar catastrophe.
The seas were so high at times that
they swept over this wall.
Problem for Engineers.
The lower Mississippi river valley
has had many disastrous floods and
the problem of checking the damage
and loss of life caused by them is
still under discussion by engineers.
One of the worst of these floods in
recent years was in 1912, when 200
lives were lost and a property loss Of
S45, 100000 was caused in Bolivar
county, Mississippi. The property loss
each year in the lower Mississippi
region runs into millions. The year
| of greatest loss was 1903, when
| millions of dollars in property were
destroyed at Kansas. City, Mo-, and
other river towns.
Great as have been the loss of
life and property in floods in the
United States, they have been almost
infnitesimal In comparison to losses
in life and property in other countries,
particularly in China.
In 1876, 100000 persons persisted In
a tidal wave in Bengal. Hundreds of
thousands were drowned in the China
provinces in the same year. In 1887,
two years before the Johnstown flood
in this country, millions were drowned
in a flood of the Hoang-ho in Honan,
China. In 1896, 1900 lives were lost
in Japan in a flood.
In 1911, 100000 lives were lost in a
flood Of the Yang-tse Kiang in
China and in the same year 5000 lives
were lost in a Hoang-ho river flood.
In 1912, 400 were lost in Japan and
2S2 in q second flood in the same year.
The Philippine islands also have had
many similar disasters.
One of the large floods preceding the
Johnstown flood in 1874 inundated the
Mill river valley in Massachusetts
when a dam broke. Nearly $50 per-
sons were drowned. In the same year
and in the next year disastrous floods
in Western Pennsylvania and in the
Ohio river valley caused the loss Of
hundreds Of lives.
In the West river valley Of China
serious floods occurred in 1914 and
1915. In the first year the loss was
$500 lives and S43.O0O,O0O in property.
The following year $4,000 lives were
lost.
Two years ago floods and cloud
bursts in Guanajuato, Mexico, killed
1000 persons and caused a property
loss of $20,OOO,OOO. Two cities were in
undated and crops destroyed I've an
area of 10000 square miles. 4
Pueblo Flooded in 1894.
The recent disaster at Pueblo was
the second in the history of that city.
On May 81, 1894, Pueblo was swept
by flood when Fountain creek was
swollen to a torrent by a downfall of
rain and series of cloudbursts all along
the eastern slope of the continental
divide. According to reports printed
at that time the flood Of 1894 was
similar in every way to the one early
in June.
The previous downpour of rain on
the Eastern slope covered a wider
area of territory. extending as far
south as Abilene, Texas. Heavy cloud
bursts were reported at the same time
in the Pacific Northwest. Other cities
in Colorado heavily hit in this same
storm were Boulder Denver, Mani
tou, Colorado Springs and Butte.
Approaches to all the bridges over
the Arkansas river and Fountain creek
were washed away in the flood. and
sections of the city were cut off from
communication with one another.
The flood of water in Pueblo in the
1874 inundation was at least fifteen
feet deep, and remained at high level
Tor more than a week. Much Of it
had to be pumped away. Many rail-
road bridges near the city, and particu-
larry between Pueblo and Canon City,
were destroyed. The heaviest loser
was the Denver & Rio Grande Rail-