The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-10-01
in
Bluffs Use
Row Boats
Relief Workers Busy Caring
FOR Storm Victims-Streets
Still Under Mud and
Water.
Car Service Is Crippled

Council Bluffs yesterday started to
dig out of the mud that covers It.
Broadway, the main thoroughfare,
for many blocks was knee deep in
mud that covered the sidewalks and
street and even extended into some
of the stores.
Numerous other streets were cov-
cred with water and many blocks
were lakes in which stood houses,
some of them abandoned by their
owners. Other houses were half in
ruins, the basement walls having
caved in under the weight Of the sod
den ground. Boats piled about the
lakes, taking people to and from
their dwellings,.
One bridge over Indian creek was
swept away and another, in course
OF construction, was so undermined
that it will have to be rebuilt.
Scores of householders were busy
shoveling the mud from their side
walks as they shovel snow in winter.
Many a sidewalk was covered with
a foot of mud.
Street car service was badly Grip
pied. Omaha cars ran as far as
Twentieth street, Council Bluffs.
There passengers got off and de-
toured on foot via Broadway to Six
teenth street, where they again
boarded stub line cars which moved
slowly on as far as Eighth and
Broadway.
Crowds Visit Scenes.
Gangs of men with teams and scran-
ers were at work clearing the mud
from some places. Firemen with hoses
worked at other places, washing the
mud down the sewers. Other gangs
were busy with buckets and pumps,
clearing out the cellars and base
ments flooded with mud and water.
The place where the family OF four
was killed In the cyclone was crowd
ed all day with the curious.
Early in the evening when the
Omaha visitors were returning, au-
tomobiles were lined up for mile
and a half on the Iowa side, slowly
getting across the bridge.
, Relief work for scores of marooned
and homeless families in the tornado
and flooded districts continued
throughout Sunday with workers Of
the Red Cross, Salvation Army, po-
lice and three units of the Iowa Ma
tional Guard doing all within their
power to assist.
With 10000 automobiles and 5o,-
900 persons visiting the stricken dis
triets as sight-seers, the traffic prob
lem called for every available officer
of the police force. who. with the ma
tional guard units, were kept busy
handling the throngs.
Boats Pressed Into Service.
Nearly a dozen rowboats from Man
ava were pressed into service carry
ing marooned families from their
homes and in transporting passengers
across the miniature lakes between
Thirteenth and Twentieth streets,
where street cars We're unable to get
through. 1t is estimated that or
80 families were transported in boats
during the day.
The need for immediate relief is
greater in the Manawa district than
in the uptown area, it was reported.
At Manawa "a families are housed
temporarily in a church and in a store
building. Red Cross relief stations,
supplying food and clothing to the
refugees, are established and at pres
ent have plenty of supplies. The
Salvation Army station Is at % North
Seventh street.
Ambulances Stuck i'm Mud.
The police ambulance was called to
=. .escue a woman named Potter, who is
suffering from broken hip received
some time ago. She was taken from
her home at Fourteenth street and
Avenue l. TO the home of friends.
Enroute the ambulance become stuck
in the mud. Earlier in the day the
Cutler ambulance was called to take
"A patient from Avenue Il and Twelfth
street and this machine also mired in
the mud. The Cutler hearse was
pressed into service to tow the am
bIlance out.
During the day n sewer caved in at
Twentieth street and Seventh avenue.
leaving a ie hole and rendering the
street impassable.
The prospects Of gas famine
which threatened Saturday We're dis
PEELED when the plant on South
Eighth street was shut down for two
hours Saturday due to the flood,
managed to resume operations and
store up a sufficient amount to meet
anticipated needs.