Evening star., 1937-01-25

were without power or gas. Bellaire
and Bridgeport were virtually isolated.
Gov. Martin L. Davey called special
legislative session at Columbus to ap-
propriate S250,000 for food relief.
Fully 4,500 W. P. A. workmen already
were on the job.
Fire also menaced Augusta, KY. as
an oil drum burst. The town was
almost deserted.
Refugees streamed from Paducah
as water rose through the business
area. From $4,000 to 10000 Of the
city's $4,000 residents were expected
to be evacuated by nightfall.
Covington and Newport. KY. re-
ported food shortages and virtual
isolation.
Memphis, Tenn got word that three
small gaps had been made in the Mis-
sissippi River levee above Hickman.
KY, where farmers stopped United
States Army Engineers seeking to re-
lease the river into the Birds Point
New Madrid, Mo-, f1oodway.
Seek TO Relieve City.
They sought in this manner to re-
lieve Cairo, ILL.,, where 10000 residents
were endangered as the river level
reached 5S08 feet on a 60-foot flood
wall. Mayor August Bode warned
women and children to flee.
Gov. Henry Horner went into South
ern Illinois, where fully 10000 were
refugees in seven counties. At Shaw
neetown about two-thirds Of the city's
1900 population was being carried
out by boats.
President Roosevelt ordered all
available Government aid into the dis
aster zone after Sunday night con-
ference, placing the Army, Navy, Coast
Guard, Works Progress Administration
and Civilian Conservation Corps on
a 24-hour basis to help the Red Cross
evacuate refugees and aid the home
less.
The President personally advised
City Manager c. A. Dykstra OF Cincin-
natl that "the Federal Government is
standing behind Cincinnati and the
entire Ohio Valley food zones" and
that his private phone would be held
open for any direct calls.
Eighteen firemen were Injured fight
ing a s1,5O0,O00 oil fire in the indus
trial Mill Creek district in Cincinnati.
The blaze continued today. A blazing
25O,00O gasoline storage tank dr1fted
downstream from the city and police
reported four others were adrift.
Louisville restored city water for fire
department use only by furnishing a
flooded pump station with water power
from river boat. Tht Ohio was at
54.2 feet, more than 26 above flood
stage, and another 2-foot rise was in
prospect. Louisville police were under
orders to shoot to kill" all looters as
food supplies dwindled.
Mayor Neville Miller asked all citi-
tents to evacuate who could.
officials of the State Reformatory
at Frankfort began evacuating prison.
ers by boat. The number killed in
the rioting was not definitely known,
although one guard estimated Is.
The bodies sank in 6 feet of water
which covered the prison floor and
grounds.
Red Cross advices said the most
critical flood area was between Louis
vile and Ballard, KY.
Martial law was in force throughout
the flood belt of Southern Indiana.
Gov. M Clifford Townsend directed
relief authorities to commander
trains and trucks to transport about
$4,000 refugees to cities as far north
as Indianapolis.
Director w. J. Moxom of the Gov
ernment Weather Bureaus hood-fore-
casting service said it might be 10
days or 2 weeks before the Ohio's
crest met the Mississippi River at
Cairo, III. He said emergency flood
conditions might continue for month
and that if lower Mississippi tribu-
taries reached flood stage coinci-
dentally things would be pretty bad
for the lowlands."