The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-03-13
Toll of Life Scars Hourly,
With Vast Territory
in Ruins.
200 MAY BE VICTIMS
Scores of Homes in Direct
Path of Huge Wall
of Water.
BY DAN CAMPBELL
United Press staff Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, March 13.-
Swept by flood waters from a
mountain reservoir, the historic
Santa Clara River valley lay
devastated today, while the
death toll from the worst dis
aster on the Pacific Coast in
recent years mounted hourly.
Cutting a sixty-mile path of
death, the raging torrents from
the st. Francis Dam, which col
Iapsed at l a. M, raced through
the valley, from the mountains
to the sea.
Rescuers struggled frantically to
invade the once peaceful river basin
now flooded and strewn with de-
br1s and the wreckage of homes and
Stores-to determine definitely the
number Of dead.
A check by the United Press
shortly before 10 a. M, Pacific time.
indicated the death list would reach
200 and might go far beyond. Whole
towns were swept by the flood.
The following reports, as vet
without official verif1cation because
Of disrupted communication, had
reached Los Angeles at that hour:
One hundred bodies reported re-
covered in the Santa Paula dis
trict.
Sixty-three bodies reported
brought to Newhall.
Three bodies reported at the
Harry Carey ranch.
Four bodies reported recovered
at Fillmore.
-Four bodies reported at Piru.
Twenty bodies reported discov-
cred one mile west of Saugus.
The fate of four hundred or more
families in the vicinity of Newhall
in the direct path of the wall of
water liberated when the st. Fran
els dam burst, was unknown.
Fear Crew of 100 Lost
No word had come from colony
OF more than 100 employees of Los
Angeles Power Company and it was
feared many of them had been
drowned.
SauguS officials said they believed
it must have been impossible for
families living just below the huge
dam to have escaped the terrific tor
rent which swept down upon them
as they slept.
Three unidentified bodies. those
Of man, woman and child, were
found on Harry Carey's ranch and
trading post, which was obliterated
by the flood.
Grave fears were felt here for resi-
dents of Fillmore, Santa Paul and
Piru, towns situated along the Santa
Clara River No word has been
received from them since shortly be-
fore the flood.
Brides, Roads Destroyed
With all lines of communication
broken and all roads and bridges
destroyed, it was impossible to de-
termine the extent of the damage
and death spread by the torrent.
On the fringe Of the stricken re-
gion rescue squads reported a DESC
late picture where peaceful homes
and sleepy ranches once dotted the
valley.
Property damage will total many
millions.
Seven towns and cities situated
along the Santa Clara River were
reported practically destroyed.
The Los Angeles aqueduct dam
Crumbled under pressure of water
from cloudburst in the high ST.
erraS, and $4,000 acres feet of wa
ter poured into the river basin. The
food swept towns before it in it's
wild dash.
Tears Path of Ruin
Buildings and homes were carried
away by the head of water. 1t
tore path through the cities of
NeWhall, Fillmore, Saugus, Piru,
Santa Paula, Saticey, Castiac, Oborg
and Camarillo.
According to reports from Ven
&ura, on the seacoaSt, near the
mouth of the river, the Santa Clara
River became torrent fifty feet
deep and two miles wide. Wrecked
homes, helpless animals, and debris
we're carried along with the flood.
All bridges through the Santa
Clara basin we're swept away, in
Guiding the Southern Pacific Rail-
Bay bridge between Ventura and