Evening star., 1937-01-23
KENTUCKY HARD
HIT BY FLOODS
80, 900 Already Homeless as
Cold, Snow and SIeet
Adds to Suffering.
Es the Associated Press.

serting their homes today before the
worst Ohio River flood In history.
Thirty thousand already were home
less. Water isolated cities and towns,
fouled their drinking water, stopped
their power and destroyed property
running into millions.
Snow and sleet pelted the refugees,
many of whom lacked food, clothing.
shelter and medicine. The cold wave
slowed up the rise Of creeks and rivers,
but it brought help only after the
Ohio, Mississippi, Green, Kentucky.
Big Sandy, Licking and Salt Rivers
had neared or exceeded their all-time
high records, which were set in the
disastrous food seasons Of 1913 and
1884.
| Six thousand of Louisville's $4,000
people were homeless, quartered with
friends. kinsmen or by charity, when
the Ohio River went to 50.85 at am.
A rise Of 2 feet more was predicted.
GuardSmen Patrol Areas.
National Guardsmen patrolled the
flooded areas and furnished cots and
clothing to hundreds Of the refugees.
The 52-foot stage would inundate
third Of the city, according to Gov
| ernment map Of city levels. Already
several square miles are submerged.
Boats ride the current in streets that
were the heart of the great wholesale
district. Buildings through which In
dustrial commerce flowed to two mil.
lion persons sheltered tie craft, which
took shelter from the raging current
In midstream.
| Water backing up in sewers threat
ened at any moment to close Fourth
street at York. Only one route was
open to the highlands and the west
end was almost completely cut of.
! Theaters and schools closed. Two
churches suspended tomorrow's serv-
ices. A foot and half Of water in
the basement caused evacuation Of the
Jewish Hospital
| Louisville's waterworks was drowned
| OuI. O1IIA1 4u1Il LCGASC CAlC PCOPlO
will be restricted to two hours service
a day, drawn from the reserves.
Suffer Power Shortage.
Power was short today. A 10000
kilowatt line from Cincinnati no longer
served this city, having been diverted
by the f1ood-stricken Ohio metropolis.
Mayor Neville Miller ordered adver-
tising signs turned of and urged
citizens to use no more lights than
necessary. Miller ordered gasoline
filling stations closed, to conserve fuel
essential for relief-which the isolated
city may run short Of. The gas supply
was only two-thirds normal, but with
closing Of many businesses a smaller
demand was noted.
Street cars could not reach many
sections of Louisville. The only truck
highway paSsable out of Louisville
led to Lexington. Citizens were urged
to stay of of it. Rail service to South.
East and West was stopped, except
when routed through Indiana. Planes
were grounded.
Appeal to Hopkins.
Kentucky Works Progress Admins
traitor George H. Goodman wired Ma
tional Relief Chief Harry Hopkins
that help was needed for $4,000 per.
sons. The Coast Guard station, work.
ing day and night moving refugees,
appealed to its Buffalo headquarters
for surf boats. Across the Ohio River,
New Albany, Ind, police appealed over
the radio all night for power boats
to save marooned persons.
AL night, too, the radio appealed
in vain for communication from Car
rollton, KY, town Of 1000 lying at
the confluence Of the Ohio and Ken
lucky Rivers, which was badly flooded
as early as Wednesday. Both rivers
are higher than ever before.
West Point, KY, was almost iso-
lated. United States soldiers from
Fort Knox, relieved from other duties
when the Government suspended
shipping gold to its treasure vault at
Fort Knox, evacuated West Pointers.
Water stood in the streets at Ash
land, Hopkinsville and Carrollton. At
Carrollton all communication facili-
ties were broken down and the city
was entirely cut of by road and train.
Water Supplies Low.
BardStown faced a water shortage
when four reservoir dams broke Water
inundated the west section Of Cadiz
and Campbellsville was isolated.
The 1000 patients at the Western
State Hospital at Hopkinsville were
rationed water today and DR.. E. L.
Busby, superintendent, said there was
about one days more supply on hand.
The pumping plant was drowned out
yesterday.
In Washington, Kentucky members
Of Congress appealed to relief au-
thorities for Federal aid to the food
ravaged Bluegrass State.
Acting Gov. Keen johnson urged
the people of the State to remain
calm and ordered all department and
institution heads to use all their re-
sources to aid the suffering.
Richmond reported the Lexington
road closed at Clay's Ferry, but traf-
f1c was being routed through Win.
chester. valley view, near Rlcn.
mond, was under water.
At Boonesboro the Kentucky start
ed falling today and between and
8 am. dropped one-tenth Of an inch
The crest last night was 30.6 feet.
A heavy rain that started yester.
day stopped at Richmond this morn
ing after is inches had fallen during
a 24-hour period.
Rail Service Suspended.
Downstream, floods lashed further
into Henderson County, and caused
suspension Of all rail service out OF
Owensboro. Paducah prepared for its
worst" flood, where hundreds OF
families already have fed to higher
ground.
Newspapers at Paducah and Mays
vile temporarily suspended publica-