Evening star., 1932-05-14
POTOMAC IN FLOOD;
FAMILIES ROUTED
River 0verfIoWS Its Banks
Between Key Bridge and
Great Falls.

Numerous families were forced to
move last night and today as the Po-
tomac River overf1owed its banks at
several points between the Key Bridge
and Great Falls.
The stream was so high at several
places that it almost covered all of the
ground between the normal bank on the
District or Maryland side and the old
Chesapeake g. Ohio Canal. Veteran
river men declared the Potomac had
not been so high in eight years.
Compared to 1929 Flood.
Weather Bureau officials compared
the situation with the 1929 flood. They
predicted the crest would be reached
here sometime this afternoon, as the
river already has begun to fall at Har-
pers Ferry and elsewhere upstream. The
river stood at 1913 feet at Harpers Ferry
at O'Clock this morning, while at the
Key Bridge it measured 66 feet above
tinued to rise here at a rate Of about
3 of foot an hour.
Persons residing in some cottages
on the Maryland shore had to enter row
boats at their submerged doorsteps and
paddle to dry land. Many of the cot
tages were unoccupied, however.
Adrift Four Hours.
Lashed by the rough, swollen waters
of the river, seven heavily-loaded
gravel barges were swept from their
moorings near Key Bridge late yes
terday and whirled about for approx
mately four hours before they could
be maneuvered into safe positions by
flremen. policemen and sailors.
The chain of barges, each loaded
with 200 tons of gravel, broke loose
from the docks Of the Smoot Sand
& Gravel Co., at the foot of Thirtieth
street. Thomas G. Herbert, superin-
tendent of the company, leaped aboard
one of the barges and began shouting
orders to the crew of one OF the
others. No one was on the other
barges.
The swiftness of the river rendered
the bargemen powerless to carry out
Herbert's orders, and the Fire Fighter,
commanded by Sergt. L. T. West, was
summonded. The firemen also were
unable to get the runaway barges
under control, and the harbor police
and the Navy tugboat Tecumseh were
called upon for aid.
Barge Overturns.
The current swept the Fire Fighter
against a pier, and the policemen and
sailors had to abandon their efforts to
round up the barges long enough to
pull the fire boat into deeper water.
Meanwhile, however, one of the
barges had broken away from the
others, crashed into an abutment of
the railroad bridge and overturned. 1t
was finally righted and towed to safety,
and the efforts to round up the others
were resumed.
While the battle to save the barges
was at its height, one of the several
Smoot company tugs participating
sprung leak and had to be run
aground.
Shunted Onto Flats.
Herbert meantime had been marooned
on the barge on which he had jumped.
While crowds watched from the river
banks and from nearby bridges, the
barges finally were shunted to safety in
the mud flats just north of the Railroad
Bridge and Herbert was rescued.
The river nearly 20 feet above its
normal mark and rushing toward the
Chesapeake at a en-mile e-an-hour
rate, was rougher than 1t has been for
years, according to Sergt. West and
other rivermen At one time, West
said, one of the barges, caught broad
side by the full force of the current.
spun around like a top
Dispatches from Hagerstown, Md.
revealed many gardens were destroyed
flowed their banks.
River Receding.
The river began receding after reach
ing a peak of "a feet early today at
Williamsport, Md. The Cacapon and
Shenandoah Rivers, both of which flow
into the Potomac, also were dropping
Some families at Williamsport were
forced to move from their homes dur
ing the night.
Small streams in the vicinity of
Martinsburg. w. Va, flooded their
banks and washed out crops in bottom
lands. Traffic was interrupted when q
river road in jefferson County, W. Va,
was flooded Rail, mail and bus serv-
ice were retarded.
The river continued to fall in the
vicinity of Cumberland. No damage
was caused as the stream backed up on
Paca street and then receded.
Numerous persons were driven from
their homes at Keyser. Md. by high
water.