New Britain herald., 1927-05-04
Racing Mississippi Rips It's Way Through New Breaks, Inun-
 dating More Rich Property
LOOKS LIKE BIG LAKE
 100 MILES IN LENGTH

Rains-Rescue Boats Taking on
 Mar0oned People-Lower Leyees
 Still Holding.
 New Orleans. La, May R- Devastation of northeastern Louisi- ana over stretch of approximately four thousand square miles rapidly was becoming complete today as the madly racing Mississippi tore through its banks at two additional planes between Vicksburg and Nat chez.
 New Army of Refugees
 A new army of refugees was sent on the march. increasing the home- less in the great flood to around 25O,000 and rich cotton. sugar cane. trucking, hardwood and oil and gas lands were claimed, adding almost immeasurably to the staggering total of property loss.
 Murky flood waters now cover nearly fifteen thousand square miles of Louisiana, Arkansas and Missis- sippi and the picture of desolation presented is appalling. For hun dreds of miles in Arkansas and Louisiana along the Mississippi there are only scattered places not under water.
 Floods Are Everywhere
 From Arkansas City almost down to Vicksburg, stretch of more than 100 miles as the crow flies. flood or backwaters are everywhere. There the Mississippi flows through great lake out of which faint lines of its levees may be seen.
 These levees have been the salva- tion of thousands who sought refuge there before the flood water until rescue craft could be sent to. move them so safer ground. Indian mounds and natural promontories have been the means of protecting other hundreds when the racing wa ters engulfed their homes.
 Roaring through four breaks in the Louisiana levees developed during the past 16 hours, the Mississippi flood waters were cutting wide chan nels in Madison and Tensas parish es and rushing to meet backwaters from overf1ows on the Black and Quachita rivers as we'll as from breaks in the main levee around Glasscocke.
 The rescue machine set up by for mer Governor John M. Parker. civil ian flood dictator under Secretary Hoover, was moving swiftly to care for the refugees and to move out the hundreds who had clung ten- aciously to their homes in the face of warnings given by telephone and dropped by airplanes flying over the threatened territory.
 Below the mouth of the Red river, the levees still were holding. but with the approach of the crest of the flood which already has crumbled levees to the north. apprehension is felt for the safety of the embank- ments southward towards New Or leans.
 Warnings Issued
 [16dAh lOudy IlC NtSttllCI OQIcd u here emphasized that every precau- tion should be taken along this stretch against the record stages previously forecast. It added that the crevasse waters from the Tensas basin were beginning to return to the old river, into which the Red empties. showing rise in the gauge of two tenths of foot at Angola and Baton Rouge.
 At Donaldsonville, farther to the south the river was stationary while at New Orleans similar condition existed with the Carrollton gauge here showing 20.4 feet, a slight re- cession caused by the artificial ere vase created at'Caernavan, 15 miles to the south.
 The Ouachita continued to rise at Monroe and the Red at Alexandria, while the Atchafalata at Melville. La., went up two tenths of 8 foot to 44.6 feet.