Evening star., 1937-01-27

to 100000, the toll Of known dead by
drowning reached 137-hundreds more
were missing-and estimates Of prop
erty damage scared far beyond the
$500, 100000 mark, completely over
shadowing the havoc of the 1927 Mis-
sissippi River disaster.
Snow, hunger and pestilence wrote
black picture of human misery. At
Louisville, KY, Health Commissioner
DR.. Hugh r. Leavell said at leas! 200
victims had died Of diseases attributed
directly to flood conditions.
Twenty more bodies, found floating
in the streets of Louisville, lay In the
morgue today.
Many others have been trapped in
their homes and drowned inside the
dwellings" said DR.. Leavell. "Other
bodies may have been swept down the
river"
Raise SeAwall at Cairo.
As the food waters momentarily
paused in their four-day rise to rec
ord-breaking heights in the Ohio
River Valley, Army Engineers at
Cairo, Ill.-the dike-walled island
city where the Ohio pours into the
Mississippi-directed the labors of
1000 volunteers hastily throwing
a 3-feot earthen bulwark on top of
the 60-foot Seawall against the on
coming assault of the Ohios crest.
Below Cairo, in the line Of ap-
proach, residents of Tfptonville, Tenn,
and New Madrid. Mo, were told to
evacuate the riverside region at once.
THE levees are sure TO break"
warned George Myer, Red Cross ma
tional director. Those people will
drown like rats in trap unless they
get out now-whlle there is still time "
The urgency Of his appeal met a
counter-aSsurance from Lieut.. Col.
Eugene Reybold. district chief of
United States Army Engineers in the
area below Cairo.
Major Levees Holding.
Col. Reybold, who yesterday pre-
dicted a "superfood," declared con-
fidently:
All major levees are holding firm
and in good condition, and We ex-
pect to keep them in that condition.
The water is producing no serious
strain below the Cairo area"
Col. Reybold ordered immediate
delivery Of 100000 gunnysacks for
the erection Of sandbag buIwarks, Is
cars Of lumber. 210 outboard motor
boats. BOG small boats, 300 life Jackets
and 1900 lanterns in preparation for
the coming emergency.
At Cairo itself, the food stage re-
manned stationary at 585 feet-just
Is from topping the 60-foot seawall
that guards the city on three sides.
Far below. at Memphis, the Missis-
slpp1 rose to 43 feet on the gauge,
within two feet of an all-time high.
Acting under martial law, troops
invaded Eastern Arkansas new flood
crisis zone today to evacuate thou
sands Of lowlanders imperiled by the
Mississippi Rivers threatened sweep
through its leveeS at Mellwood.
Engineers reported the crumbling
protecting wall may hold for several
days. They said a break would send
flood waters over more than 100 900
acres OF fertile delta country.
Rushing q resolution through the
Legislature authorizing Gov. Carl E.
Bailey to invoke his military authority
over the threatened area, Senator
Luther Wilkes. Helena. asserted more
than $4,000 residents behind the Nell
wood levee would have to leave i'm
mediately.
Bailey clamped martial law over
portions Of Phillips and Desha Coun-
ties, surrounding Mellwood and i'm
mediately adjacent to the confluence
of the White and Mississippi Rivers
in Southeast Arkansas. He ordered
five units Of State militia into the
region.