The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-11-21
Floods and Tomatoes Make 1927 Worst Year
For Disaster in History OF the Red Cross
rornadoes and ! Floods Have
Killed More Than 500 Per.
sons This Year, Beside In.
flicting Property Damage
Estimated q High as One
Billion Dollars

SesA0 AA00SAC4e
The year 1926 was the worst dis
aster year in American history, &C.
cording to the Red Gross.
But the Mississippi floods soon
gave the record for Mother Natures
widest rampages to 1927; and the
recent floods in New England have
added the toll Of smother major
disaster only second in its proper.
tons to that Of the Valley states.
Tornadoes and floods have killed
more than 800 persons and inflicted
property damage estimated as high
Is 81 600, 900, 900 since Jan. I.
Red Cross Kept Busy
The Red Cross has never been 90
busy In . year Of peace, for within
four months it had finished its work
in the Florida hurricane area, Il
had to tackle the greatest relief
task in its experience in seven
states Of the south and the middle
west. It has assisted nearly 7OO,-
600 victims within eleven months.
Mother Nature hasn't given the
nation even q breathing spell and
the worst Of it is that no one has
the slightest idea what terrible
tricks she will be up to next.
The 1927 floods began late IN
January in Indiana, Ohio and Ar.
kansas, when hundreds Of homes
were damaged or destroyed and
nearly $500 persons required aid.
Three other states also reported
flood damage.
In February came the first real
tornado and Is persons were killed
by . cyclone which hit hardest in
Sabine Parish, La, and ut Rose
Hill, Miss. The Red Cross did relief
work at those points and more flood
relief work in Oregon, California
and Kentucky, helping about .
thousand more persons.
Estimates Vary
Neither the Red Cross nor, ap.
parently, any other agency, makes
any careful compilation Of property
and crop damages in the years ma
tursl disasters and the best esti-
mates Of separate events are often
unreliejle. Estimates Of the Mis-
sissippi flood loss have run all the
c 49, S,oo ss'm 'z'0'000'o00 to $1,000
The Mississippi floods began in
earnest in April, after March tor
nadoes had taken 30 lives in Ar.
kansas and put 500 or 600 persons
under temporary Red Cross care.
The greatest disaster Of them all
overshado3s oil the less tragedies,
but it accounted for less than half
Of the 1927 Casualties resulting
from Mother Natures wild ram
pages.
Ninety more were killed in
April's tcrnadoes, 81 Of them at
Rock Springs, Tex, and the others
elsewhere in Texas, Oklahoma and
Illinois. Some. 500 buildings were
destroyed, according to the Red
Cross, which assisted more than .
thousand tornado victims during
April in addition to it's flood work.
There were more tornadoes in
southern Illinois, eastern Arkansas,
Kansas and Missouri during May,
including one on May 8 which hit
al three sections. killed 100 Arkan-
sans and Missourians and left more
than 1900 persons to be aided by
the Red Cross.
st. Louis Storm Stricken
Since then floods have stricken
New England, Ohio and Utah and
tofnadoes have hit Kansas, Mis-
souri,, Illinois, Arkansas and Okla
homa. The worst of the more re-
cent tornadoes conferred its fury on
st. Louis, where the loss was put
at 50 dead, 600 injured, 5000 homes
destroyed and about $4,000 900
property loss.
The stricken areas. especially In
flood territory, have in many cases
only begun to recover from the dis
asters.
Instances cited in this review Of
Mother Natures 1927 performances
do not. Of course, cover the extent
Of her destruction. They are based
on Red Cross records, which take
NO account Of many fierce gales.
hailstorms and other disturbances
which have caused considerable
damage without direct loss Of life
or other effects which required aid
from local or sectional chapters or
divisional branches Of the Red
Cross.
Complete Red Cross records are
only, available up 70 the end OF the
last Nfiscal year ending June 80,
1927. During that fiscal year, the
relief organization rendered aid I'M
Ill disasters-a few Of them out
side the United States-which in.
cluded 20 tornadoes. "a floods, Is
fires, ( earthquakes. . hurricanes,
mine disasters and some cloud
bursts, explosions, railroad wrecks,
typhoons and epidemics.
Relief Work Costly
The $l7,OO0,O00 relief fund
raised for the Mi1sissippi valley set
! record for Ill time. The Florida
hurricane relief fund was only 81
;00, 900.
The fiscal year records show that
lie American Red Cross also aided
sufferers from Caribbean hurri-
: anes. Jugoslavia's $50, OOO, 900
food, Mexican storms and floods,
Albanian and Armenian earth
luakes, : Philippine typhoon which
titled 276 persons and Japanese
earthquake in March which killed
1000.
These and other reports indicate
hit Mother Nature has been ram
,aeing al over the world.
The Rcd Cross makes. he predic-