Evening star., 1936-03-22
SNOW STORM HITS
PITTSBURGH AREA
Cities and Towns Relief
Work Is Hampered
by Blizzard.

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copyright. 1895. By the Associated Press. }
PITTSBURGH, March 2l.-Heavy
SHOWS buried the prostrated cities and
towns Of Western Pennsylvania and
Northern West Virginia today while
an army Of relief workers fought to
restore order along the trail Of devas-
tating flood waters.
The latest siege Of the Clements
blizzard that swept the area with snow
from s to 20 inches deep-intensified
the confusion among the homeless
thousands, but brought q ray of hope
to the reconstruction agencies that 1t
might stem the threats Of fire and
disease.
Utilities in the steel metropolis
slowly were returning to q semblance
Of normalcy and engineers hoped to
restore lighting facilities and relieve
the acute shortage of drinking water,
Pittsburgh still is In darkness.
DesoIation Is Frightful.
The desolaton remained frightful
in scores Of communities along the
valleys Of the Ohio, Monongahela and
Allegheny Rivers as Red Cross work.
ers and other rescuers dug through
heavy debris. ever fearful new victims
might be found to add to the stagger-
ing toll.
Western Pennsylvania death total
stood tonight at SO, including Sc in
Pittsburgh. The number Of lives lost
In the area around Wheeling, w. Va,
rose to 18 with the recovery of three
more unidentified bodies in a demol-
ished structure on Wheeling Island,
in the middle of the Ohio River, where
many residents refused, even at the
crest Of the flood, to embark in rescue
boats.
Hundreds of injured lay in hospitals.
Thousands will huddle Sunday in
churches. schools, public buildings and
makeshift relief headquarters. Other
thousands Of idlers roamed the streets
Of the hood-besieged towns, several Of
which were patroled by National
Guardsmen to prevent pillaging of
wrecked buildings.
No Serious Rise In Rivers.
The snow storm caused no serious
rise in the rivers. Weather Bureau
officials did not expect more high
water unless q change in weather
melts the snow and sends it into the
subSiding rivers.
Six thousand w. P. A. workers took
up the job Of clearing the streets Of
devastated Johnstown. where terror
hit with indescribable force in a strik-
ing parallel of the catastrophe of 1889
that took some 1000 lives. Ironically,
the Conemaugh River which leaped
upon the town like destructive giant.
became once more the placid little
waterway it normally is. Nearly every
store in the town was damaged. l6
persons were dead, and homes lay in
ruins.
To the South, at Wheeling and
Wellsburg. in neighboring West Vir-
ginia, truckloads of food rolled in to
relieve the famished victims, thou
sands Of whom were bereft of homes
The 20-foot torrent that ragged through
Wellsburg left houses imprisoned in
so much mud and debris they were
unapproachable.
The whole vast Pittsburgh indus
trial area was laid waste, only the
highlands escaping the deluge Months
Of reconstruction, at incalculable ex-
pense lay ahead before the normal
industrial and business life of the
district could be restored. Steel COM
panies, coal mines. department stores
and nearly all forms Of trade and COM
merce strove to arise from paralysis.
Into the golden triangle" heart
Of Pittsburgh's financial and business
area, National Guardsmen permitted
no one at night without an identifica-
ton card.
Business men surveying the havoc
wrought by the riotous waters found
machinery in cellars packed in mud,
stocks on lower floors destroyed, and
theater men faced the task of re-
building lobbies, and in some instances,
their auditoriums.
Hospitals Overcrowded.
Overcrowded hospitals called in
emergency help. Seventy-five refu-
gees suffering from contagious dis
ease were isolated in one temporary
hospital set up in . lodge building in
suburban McKees Rocks. Most Of
the patients were children.
Contagion cases were being isolated
at all other hospitals.
Emergency set-ups provided the
hospitals with electric lighting, al
though at the crest of the disaster,
doctors and nurses worked by candle
light and oil lamp.
Typhoid and dysentery outbreaks
were feared. Most Of the contagion
already reported consisted Of cases of
whooping cough and scarlet fever.
Ever alert police and guardsmen
kept a watchful eye on marauders,
bent on looting stores and homes. At
Lettsdale, vandals were driven away
by National Guardsmen and eight ar
rests were made.
In q candle-lighted court room
Judge Ralph H. Smith held court and
disposed Of all cases Of vandalism and
violation of the order against sellinr