Evening star., 1947-04-06
Hoods Spread 0veI
Wide Area Of Naiion;
Michigan Worst Hi
~ ,be A.soc;osed Press

rains, spread over widely scat
tered areas of the Nation ex-
tending from, New York to Ne
braska. High winds and torna-
does also lashed sections OF the
country leaving four dead in
Oklahoma. Heavy SHOWS blan-
keted sections of the Midwest.
Michigan appeared to be the worst
hit by flood conditions. Swirlmg
waters of II major rivers covered
thousands and thousands OF acres
OF rich Southern Michigan farm
land and hundreds were forced to
flee their homes. A Pontiac youth
| was killed as he worked on sodden
ground repairing an electric motor.
H. NJ. Wills, meteorologist at East
Lansing, warned that the crest OF
the Michigan flood may not be
reached before tomorrow and fore-
cast it would be the worst flood
in the States history.
Had Outlook for Easter.
In only a few scattered sections
was the Sunday weather outlook
favorable for Easter parading.
High winds, cloudy skies and cold
were forecast for most Of the Mid
west. Rain or showers were in pros
pect for such widely scattered areas
as New York. New England, Vir-
ginia, Nebraska. Utah and Idaho.
Other States hit by floods were
Illinois, Iowa. Nebraska, Pennsylva-
mia and New York. New England
faces potential threat" of floods.
North Dakota experienced one OF
the heaviest snowfalls Of the winter,
with 13 inches recorded near the
Montana border, blocking some
highways.
Miles City Mont. had II inches
OF snow and at West Yellowstone.
the mercury dropped to degrees
above zero.
At Marshall. Ill.,, Is miles from
Terre Haute. Ind, a l5-minute wind
storm ripped of the roof OF the high
school building and caved in parts
of the building itself Smaller frame
structures In the town of 1900 were
toppled
Roofs OF two student barracks at
the University Of Iowa at Iowa
City were blown of by high winds
which hit the State yesterday after
noon, but no one was injured Gusts
up to 81 miles an hour struck Des
Moines, but no major damage was
reported.
Two tornadoes. $50 miles apart In
Missouri, ripped out telephone wires
and destroyed farm homes. while
four members of a family were killed
in Wister, Okla, when high winds
demolished their home.
A storm moving eastward toward
the Upper Great Lakes region
caused wide belt of excessive rain
from Northeast Kansas across South
western Missouri, Southeastern Iowa.
Northern Illinois. Northwestern Indi-
ana and Southern Lower Michigan.
The rain fall measured up to 5.69
inches at La Porte, Ind.
A Coast Guarc auxiliary set up
rescue and evacuation center at
Mount Clemens, Mich, where the
Clinton River was rising 8 inches
an hour.
Other Michigan communities ex-
pecting to face the threat of rising
food waters included East Lansing,
Frankenmuth. Niles, Grand Rapids,
Flint and Saginaw.
About 1000 families were evacu-
ated from their homes in Northern
Illinois. The food waters stalled
trains in the Joliet area and broke
dixie in the Lockport section Of
the Illinois Michigan Canal
Engine Plunges In River.
Three Milwaukee railroadmenl
narrowly escaped drowning at OF
tumwa, Iowa, when their switch
engine and one car plunged from
a food-weakened bridge into the
Des Moines River. Two main high
ways also we're inundated by food
waters.
American Red Gross headquarters
in Washington said last night 1t had
received reports that approximately
TOO to 800 families are affected by
flood conditions in McKeen and
Lackawsnna Countiese of Pennsyl-
vania.
The Red Cross said power was
temporarily off in Bradford and that
water in that town had reached
the second floor of homes. Seven
persons were reported to have been
injured. Two homes caught fire. r.
C. Bauer, disaster chairman for the
Red Cross at Bradford, reported.
Both structures burned because fire.
men were unable to reach them be- |
cause of high water.
Allegheny River communities in
Southern New York were threat
ened with their worst flood since
record breaking 1912 torrent as
scores OF localities over a wide area
of Western New York fought rain
swollen creeks and fash floods.
At Salamanca, the Allegheny was
10 feet above its normal level and
less than feet short Of the all
time record set in July, 1912.
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