Evening star., 1937-01-29
Crest, Now Hovering Above
Paducah, KY, Is Still to
Come as 100000 Work.
men Fortify Levees.
NEW HORDE OF REFUGEES
FLEES FROM LOWLANDS
Federal and State Agencies Speed
Rehabilitation in Ohio Valley,
Where Flood Damage Has Been
Placed at $400, 900, 900; Health
Hazards Mount.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Flood waters of the North, unrelent-
ing after a $400, 100000 scourge Of the
Ohio River Valley, began invasion into
the heart of the South today.
A score of villages and countless
farms along the 200-mile stretch from
Cairo, ILL.,, to Memphis, Tenn, swan
deep in the rising yellow tide of the
Mississippi, fed at a rate Of nearly
100000 cubic feet per second by the
falling Ohio.
The crest was still to come-now
lowering just above Paducah, KY.
Cairo Becomes Alarmed.
Anxiety deepened in the beleaguered
city of Cairo-a sunken island citadel
60 feet below the river-as the waters
crept ominously higher.
Silently, through the night, the
debris-littered tide inched upward
reaching a stage of 58.4 feet-almost
to the point reached before the Birds
Point-New Madrid "fuse plug" was
dynamited to save the city.
A new 3-foot bulwark of sandbags
topping the 60-foot sea wall, lent some
comfort to the 5000 remaining inhab-
itants. It was still to be tested, how
ever, and the river was only is feet
below the top of the concrete wall.
Army engineers predicted crest of
81 feet.
Ranging southwark from Cairo, q
pick-and-shovel army Of 100, 900 toiled
like beavers to fortify the billion-dol-
lar levee system that guards the rich
cotton lands along the Mississippi.
The slow surge Of the food. gather
ing enormous pressure from the
bloated Ohio, spread over new terri
tory last night and today.
The pilot of a plane returning to
Memphis after an aerial survey OF the
Cairo-to-M Memphis danger zone re-
ported whole villages under water.
The village of Tomato. Ark, was
reported caves deep in muddy flood
waters. Most of the 300 residents
perched in barn lofts, in attics and
in second-story rooms-waiting to be
rescued or determined to stick it out"
Coast Guard on Patrol.
United States Coast Guard cutters
shuttled up and down the restive
waters on picket duty" to watch for
weak spots or new breaks in the
1evees.
Warned of impending danger, new
hordes of refugees streamed from the
low-lying marginal lands along the
Mississippi.
Tent cities sprang up on highlands
and ridges 30 miles from the river TO
house temporary orphans Of the
flood" At Barton, near Helena, Ark,
single concentration camp received
$4,000 refugees. Ten additional CEN
ters were spotted. Thousands Of 9TH
ers were removed to East Arkansas
cities and to Memphis.
And last night, in the darkness,
around the re1-f1aming camp fires,
voices lifted in prayerful, hysteria-
touched song:
River, stay way from my door,"
Levees Are Holding.
Every levee throughout the Missis-
sippi system was holding today-and
United States Army engineers pre-
dicted they would continue to hold,
barring the unexpected.
In Little Rock, Ark, Gov. Carl E.
Bailey declined Eastern offers of help,
declaring Arkansas wants to fight its
own flood battle-with aid only from
the U. S. Army and Red Cross-"until
we are completely licked"
Memphis, safely perched on the
Chickasaw Bluffs, hummed with &C
tivity today as more thousands OF
1See m non PAGE A-40