The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-09-27
DAMAGE CAUSEDBY
CALESAID GREATER
Than THAT OF 1928
Wind, HoWIing at 100 Miles an
Hour, Ruins 100000
Citrus Crop
COMMUNICATION DISRUPTED
Hundreds Are Injured and Thou
sands Are Left Homeless
BY Storm

San Juan, p. r. NJ. Sept. 27.-(R)-
At least 80 persons are known to have
been killed in terrific hurricane
which struck this city Monday night.
The full force of 120-mile wind
struck before midnight and dashed
the city until 2:30 Tuesday morning,
causing property damage even great
er than that left in the wake Of the
disastrous 1928 blow.
Hundreds were injured and thou
sands were left homeless. Most Of
the dead, first reports indicated, were
in smaller outlying towns.
Here in the city the loss of life was
materially reduced by police who took
the precaution of rounding up hun
dreds of women and children, remov-
ing them from their homes and plac-
ing them for safety in the more sub
stantial church and school buildings.
The villages, consisting for the
most part of flimsy homes, had no
such protection. Even in San Juan
homes by the hundred were unroofed
and torrents of rain poured in.
First reports gave the following
death toll:
Barrios II dead: Sabanallana 4:
Catanouwv Rio Piedras 10.
Reports from the last named town
placed the death toll there as high
as 40. with seven members of one
family killed in their home. Rio
Piedras is about five miles east Of
San Juan, directly in the path of the
storm. The unsubstantial native
dwellings stood exposed on the hill
sides.
A quick survey Tuesday morning in
dicated that at least 800 of 1000
dwellings in the ocean front section
Of the city had been wholly destroyed
or rendered uninhabitable.
During the night hundreds Of fam
lilies had found refuge in the Ancient
Spanish Fort of San Cristobal.
The death toll mounted as reports
from other outlying districts came in.
The little town of Carolina reported
10 dead. A native Of Caguas was cleo
trocuted by live wire.
Governor Beverley spent the entire
morning inspecting the devastated
area near San Juan. He ordered Ad-
jutant General John A. Wilson to call
out 400 national guardsmen to assist
the police.
From his own observation he esti-
mated the damage in the area he COW
cred was greater than that caused by
the storm of 1928.
The hurricane swept the citrus fruit
district and it appeared that the en-
tire crop, with an estimated value OF
100000, would be a complete loss
This is hurricane season in the
Caribbean area. The great storms
which occasionally result in terrible
catastrophes with heavy tolls of death
and property damage usually strike
between Sept. Is and Oct. l.
The last serious storm which nearly
wiped out San Juan and the sur
rounding area struck Sept. Is. 1928.
killing more than 1000 persons and
causing property damage officially
estimated at $85 100000. It continued
on and hit the Florida coast, rolling
up an additional death toll of 1000 o.
more, with property damage estimat-
ed at more than $165 ,000, 900.
Nearly half a million people in
Puerto Rico were left destitute, with
out food or shelter. and were taken
care of by the Red Cross and Other
relief agencies. Eighty per cent Of
the houses in San Juan were UNI
rooted.