Evening star., 1924-03-30
Nine Reported Dead in Flood
Rushing DOlUn Potomac Valley

CONTINUED from First Psge.)
ports from the west brought word of
more hopeful conditions, there was
no sign of drop and points east OF
Cumberland were feeling the full
force OF the torrent.
Towns in the entire Georges Creek
mining region were inundated. Lon
aconing, Western Port, Barton, all in
Maryland, and Piedmont were report
ed to be under water that reached
well up to the second story of homes
and business houses. In Ridgely, w:
Va entire houses were submerged
and Shaw, Blaine and Harrison Were
other points to feel the effect of the
on-rushing flood. More than twenty
six miles of track on the Baltim ore
and Ohio Railroad west Of Cumber-
land has been washed away.
Many Trapped In once.
Conditions in Cum berland defy de-
scription. The story of the flood was
given to The Star by it's correspond
ent. Frank Lee Carl. who sat in his
Office on the second floor of the Times
building with the water splashing
against the panes of the window
near his desk. Fifteen men were
trapped with him in the very heart
of Cumberlands business district,
which was the hardest hit of all the
city.
Shortly before midnight he esti-
mated that the water in front of the
Times building was still twelve feet
deep, virtually what it had been since
early afternoon. 1t was racing
through the downtown section OF the
city at speed of thirty miles an
hour, carrying on Its crest every
manner of debris.
Along the river front the water
was deeper and the damage far more
severe, and some sections of the city
could not be reached at all, lending
credence to the fear that fatalities
may have occurred there.
The torrent descended upon Cum
beriand with lightning sudden
ness Carl reported. The Potomac
river and Wills creek. an ordinarily
placid little stream that runs through
the business district, rose stimuli
taneously, and in a feU minutes, had
leaped over their banks and were
surging through the city's streets,
carrying all before them.
Motorists Desert Cars.
Motorists were caught before they
could stop their cars and were forced
to Jump from moving machines and
run into buildings to save their lives.
One car wasapicked up bodily, SO fast
were the waters moving and swept
past the Times building with it's
driver still frantically clutching the
and driver disappeared. A second
later the driver bobbed to the sur
| face hard beside an awning support
post Grabbing this he held on until
those inside could drag him to
safety.
! Up at the corner of Baltimore and
Mechanic sire cts, the two main bust
| ness thoroughfares, a policeman was
directing traffic when the flood start
f, ed toward him. He dashed into the
f; safety of an Office building just as
; the water picked up his semaphore
] swept it block down the street and
| dashed it through the plate glass
! window of an automobile salesroom
j Similar evidences of the floods force
were to be found on all sides
| Dam Reported Falling.
Adding to the horror Of the stu.
| alton reports began to reach the
| marooned prisoners of the flood thai
4 the big Ebbitt dam was weakening
I Its failure to hold would lend forct
/ to the torrent, it was believed, which
the shaken foundations of the swamp
| ed buildings could not withstand, a,nt
greater loss of life was feared. Hun.
| dreds of men and women were trap
| ped in their places of employment
and held prisoner all night.
1 Six families were forced to tn,
shelter of the third floor of the Har
] rison apartment house, half a blocl