Evening star., 1924-05-14
FLOOD IS ABAT|NC
IN UPPER POTOMAC:
STILL RACES HERE
Wreckage and Carcasses OF
Stock Sweep By-Reaches
TWeIve-Foot Stage.
BODY OF WOMAN is SEEN:
VIRGINIA LOSS, $1,000, 900
C. & O. Canal Believed Doomed
Great Falls Disappear
Beneath Waters.

Although dispatches from the up
per Potomac Valley today reported d
sharp fall in the flood water there
the torrent was still swirling past
Washington with unabated fury.
carrying on its muddy crest portions
of wrecked homes. the bodies o1
drowned horses and cattle and tons
of indescribable debris.
No accurate estimate of the dam
age done around Washington can b.
attempted until the surging river re-
leases from its yellow depths the
scores of homes and summer camps
that remained either wholly or par
TALLY submerged at noon today
Scores of other houses are known to
have been torn apart and washed
downstream
Reaches TweIve-Foot Mark
The high water mark was reached
here shortly before daybr eak, when
official measurements slowed the
river to be more than t.-elve feet
above normal. 1t dropped SSout four
inches by noon, but IT, extreme
stages of last night are Ii. ely to be
the tide comes in. With a strong
southeast breeze behind it, the tide
may reach unexpected proportions.
dispatch from Cumberland TO-DAY
said that the food had subsided to 4
point where trains were being sent
out over the main railroads to de-
termine whether traffic can be re-
sumed. Troops still guard the sec
tions of the city that were inundated
and grave fear is felt that some Of
the buildings have been undermined
by the waters to the point wherc
their collapse is not improbable
$2,0OO,OOO LOSS in Virginia.
Frederick and Hagerstown han
been released from the food, but
Hancock, on the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad, is isolated and the damage
is reported as heavy. The Jame~
River near Richmond was still rising
today, but reports from farther up
the river said it was gradually going
down. The flood damage in Vir-
ginia alone is estimated at more than
S2,000,000.
Although no deaths have been re
ported around Washington. fishermen
standing along the banks of the river
near Key bridge said they saw the
body OF woman float past. Eff
iorts TO reach II We're unavailing
A group OF persons on tie Highway
br1dge saw live horse and a Hv,
calf struggling in the grip OF the
surglng torrent, but before any ar
tempt could be made to save m.
animals they We're swept on down
the river, probably to their deaths
Narrowly Escapes Death.
Capt Harry Brown. we'll know
figure along the Potomac River in III
vicinity of Georgetown. had a narrow
escape from death today when his boa
the Marion c, broke from it's moorincs
at Key bridge and drifted down the
Potomac. Capt. Brown was aboard
and he stood on the deck sienaIinc
frant1cally for help as his unmanape-
a Bile craft raced along on the bosom
OF the roaring flood.
capt: Jacob StulZ, commander of the
fireboat Fire Fighter, saw the heInIess
boat drifting toward certain destrpc-
tlon against the heavy piles of High
way bridge. Ordering every man on
deck, he steamed at full speed after
ceeded in getting a line to Can't. Brown
before his vessel was crushed agains1
the bridge. Fortunately the curren1
there was not as strong as further up
ceeded in towing the runaway boat 10
the safety of Washington Channel
c. & o. Canal Likely Doomed.
1t is doubtful whether the histor!e
Chesapeake and Ohio canal will ever
again be operated. When large sec
tions of its banks were washed away
during the flood of last month. simi
lar report became current. but the
operating company succeeded in re
pairing the breaks and traffic was re
Sumed. This flood, however has
swept down the Potomac miles of the
canal walls, from Harpers Ferry to
Washington, and it is understood no
further efforts to keep the canal in
operation will be made.
The Potomac and the canal have
merged virtually from Great Falls to
Chain bridge. In a dozen places in
that comparatively short distance the
banks have disappeared, and so seri-
Gus became the menace below Chain
bridge that the canal was ordered
drained early today. Great Falls has
disappeared beneath the foaminc
flood. The rocky sixty foot gorge
down which it plunged has been
filled up by the flood, and even the
high island from which sightseerS
viewed the cataract is submerged. the
river reaching all the way over to
the canal and even backing up into
the new conduit.
Potomac Park Inundated,
Considerable of Potomac Park has
been inundated for the first time
since the sea wall was built. The
waters have leaped over the sea wall,
and the roadway down near Hams
Point is under water deep enough to
permit boatmen to take row boats
over it. A similar condition prevails
in the vicinity of the Washington and
Potomac Canoe Clubs and Demp-
sey's boat house. Not only has the
water filled the first floors of all
three structures, but backed up over
the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad tracks there, and canoeists
are padding back and forth across
the tracks. carrying valuables to
higher ground in anticipation of an
other rise.
Down at Highway bridge. rns
amusement park and the grounds of
the National Capital horse show have
been inundated. With the annual
horse show but a few days distant
1t is not known whether a postpone
ment will be necessary. Operations
at both the Army and Navy air sta
tions at Anacostia have been entire
ly suspended. The river has no.
only swept into the hangers. but to-
day had completely covered the fields
For awhile, water even found its
way into the office of the command