Imperial Valley press., 1928-05-05
NO LIVES
LOST IN
CAROLINA
Latest Reports State All
Inhabitants Safe as Dam
Releases Flood.
DANGER NOT PAST
Other Dams Expected to
Go Out AS Torrent of
Water Moves On.
By United Press Lensed Wire

t'REt.NN LILLE, >. g., May
Billions of gallons of water tore
down the Saluda river valley OF
South Carolina today, unleashcd
when water works dam broke.
During the night there $4,000 to
90,O00 inhabitants Of the upper val
ley were reported to have fled safe
~.
Six dams further down the river
were in the path Of the surging wat
crs. Should one or more of them
break, thousands more lives would
be endangered.
break and it's effect in the valley
below varied. The Grccnvillc wat
II works said damage Lad beer ax-
agg"ratcd No rcports of loss Of
, lsfc bad reached the :Dmpany Of
fi.r.
1t had been night Of panic
through a wide area.
At p. IN. first news came that
water was 31oping through III"
earthcn dam at Table Rock Cove, 81
miles above Grcenviile. An hour
latcr n huge hole had been torn in
the great 'mbankmont an thc en-.
tire dam threatened TO arumole.
Couriers roascd families in the snail
hmlais > ou.
BY midnight every family in the
danger Tor Nrs believe! moved -
safety.
The waters of the river rose n
foot an hour. The 5,000,000, ,000
gallons of water reported in the
basin above the dam pounded
through gradually, probably saving
scores of lives that would have been
lest in m onrush of wet rs.
Many Towns in Path
Along the Saluda river. which
Minds sou'hward to the west cf the
,itv. are the textile manufacturing
Gowns Of Piedmont, Pclzer, Belton
md Ware Shoals
Seven miles west Of here hundreds
of volunteers sought during IN"
night to strengthen the southern
Public Utilities Company dam, over
which the mass of flood waters be
gan to pour before midnight Early
efforts to communicate with that
point failed 1t was possible tac
dam had gone out.
Citv engineer of Piedmont, ;. G..
tclcphoncd here today that clay
and carthcn dam in the Saluda riv-
er above that town was in danger
cf crumbling as tons of water from
the break above poured over 1t.
According to l.. Merch, telephone
operator at Piedmont, landslld"
lad occurred at the dam and q
break was expected at any moment.
Mcrch said Piedmont itself was in
no danger as the town is mostly on
high ground. No one had left town
but hundreds of farmers brought
their families in during the night.
The town of Pclzer, below Pied
mont, had become n town of refuge
today for hundreds of families liv-
ing in the river lowlands nearby. A
dam above the city began to leak
slightly early today from pressure
of the rushing waters.
II was impossible to reach police
or engineers for accurate informa'
ton. The telephone exchange re-
uorted hundreds were engaged IN
bolstering the weakened dam with
sandbags.
Engineers Battle Flood
Engineers battled today to abate
the rising flood of waters finding a
wav through the Table Rock cove
dam of the Greenvillc water works
and threatening the lower Saluda
river valley.
II. w. Perry, superintendent or
the water works, reported from the
dam site that a flood dram hao
been opened and there was some
slight hope pressure of lmpouhoeo
waters would be relieved.
The water was pouring in tor
rents through fissures, however, IN
crcasing danger to dams lower down
the river.
Between $1,000 and 10000 inhabi-
tants of the valley below either had
left for higher ground or had taken
precautions in event of new dam
breaks. No lives were believed
lost.
The amount of water escaping
through crevasses of the Table ROCK
Cove dam was estimated at 6ooo
gallons a second, late today.
Fight to save power dams along
the lower rivers depended for sue
cess on ability of engineers at Table
Rock to hold that structure.
Drains were opened at Pelzer and
Piedmont in anticipation of flood
waters from upstream. This was eX-
pected to insure safety of both
structures.