Evening star., 1946-05-30
Floods in Two States
Recede;LossExpected
To Exceed ; Million
By the Assoeioted Press

HARRISBURG, Pa, May 30
Murky flood waters receded slowly
in Pennsylvania and lower New York
today, leaving behind a debris-llt-
tered devastation that took at least
l3 lives and caused property and
crop losses expected to exceed
$4,000 900.
Fed by four days of continuous
spring rains, the Susquehanna and
Allegheny Rivers and their tribu-
taries had boiled over Monday in
the worst food since 1896.
! Two more deaths were reported
in Tioga County. Pa, where noun
tain streams boiled over Monday
after three days of constant,
drenching downpour to block roads
and cut off communications more
| than 48 hours.
Pennsylvania State police re-
ported the bodies of John Stoll, 81.
and Joseph Woodford, so, were re-
covered at Lawrenceville but gave
no details on how they died.
Thousands Routed From Homes.
thousands were made temporarily
homeless as the waters spilled into
residential and business areas of
scores of communities. Today life
in once bloodhound towns returned
slowly to normalcy.
Three spots hit hardest were
Williamsport and Eldred in Penn
sylvania and Elmira, N. Y.
Williamsport was flooded by the
Susquehanna; Elmira, center of the
New York flood, was inundated by
the Chemung Rivera Susouehanna
tributary-while Eldred bore the
brunt of the onslaught from the
Allegheny Bradford and Port
Allegany in Pennsylvania also dug
out from the muck and mud de-
posted by the western branch of
the SuSquehanna.
High-wheeled Army trucks moved
through the streets of Williamsport
today replacing the boats that had
traversed the citys main streets
since Tuesday. The trucks brought
IN supplies and helped to haul out
waterlogged merchandise from stores
caught in the rush of water that
at one time covered two-thirds of
the city.
Gap Ripped in Dixie.
At Sunbury. Pa, where the raging
waters ripped a 6o-foot gap in a
dixie linking railroad embankment
with high ground half-mile north
OF the city of $4,000, most of the
low lying sections were still under
water, at places 4 feet deep.
With high water blocking all roads
leading into the city but one. only
persons with passes from city au-
thorities were permitted to move
In or out.
Although the river has been fall
Ing since midday yesterday. back
water still covered many business
and residential streets.
Highway workers in both Penn
sylvania and New York were quick
to open most of the main routes to
traffic after the swift running
streams had washed out the road
beds in loW-lying sections. Few
bridges were damaged. although sew
eral were put ont nf cH>-n,;~~:o-,
when water made the approaches
impassable
Red Cross workers provided shell
ter for hundreds of families forced
out OF their home by the swollen
streams.
Along the north branch of the
Susquehanna, dikes built after the
disastrous 1896 flood kept the tur-
bulent waters out of the populous
Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania.
Crop Damage Severe.
Health department officials in the
two States said there were no indi-
cationsof serious illnesses as a result
OF the floods, but checks were being
made on all drinking water as a
precaution against a possible typhoid
outbreak.
Crop damage was severe. especially
in Pennsylvania, where the heavy
rainfall that preceded the floods