Evening star., 1949-05-18
By the A,,oeioisd Press

floods and tornadoes in hard-hit
Texas and Oklahoma rose to IA
today. The two States estimated
13,200 other persons were home
less and 100 injured.
The latest of the tornadoes
which lashed the Southwest since
Sunday, hit both States last night.
At Spur, Tex, one woman was
killed and eight persons injured.
A farmer was killed by twister
which skipped over into Oklahoma
from Stratford, Tex. and tornado
injured nine persons in a crowd
who were watching q softball
game at Meeker, Okla.
The death toll =. included five
killed in Sunday nights tornado
at Amarillo. and seven drownings
at Forth Worth wnere large sec
tions of the city were flooded and
thousands of persons forced to
evacuate their homes after a 12-
inch cloudburst Monday night.
crest Due ~ Dallas.
The Trinity River at Dallas was
expected to reach a crest Of 48
feet today. 20 feet above flood
stage and the highest since 1908.
The stream. however. still was
within its 60-foot levees.
While waters from the Fort
Worth flood were receding slowly
today. the city had a difficult job
of safeguarding public health with
crippled water supply.
Areas west, north and east OF
Fort Worth's business district still
were under water. The water plant
was flooded and all schools were
closed.
Residents were warned not to
drink any water unless it had been
boiled. Free thypoid shots were
available to those who had drunk
questionable water"
Line Up With Buckets.
They.lined up with buckets. bot
ties and other containers for
drinking water at commercial
firms with private Artesian wells.
And sellers Of bottled drinks re-
ported a run on their beverages.
Two 500-gallon water purifica-
ton units were sent here from the
Army's Camp Hood. Dallas. 80
miles to the east, sent eight 1900
gallon water tank trucks to shuttle
drinking water.
The flood at Dallas thus Tar
was confined between 60 foot
levees in the farm areas below the
city. however. a 48 foot crest would
spell ruin for hundreds Of acres
of farm crops.
Residents in communities south
Of Dallas were warned by police
that water might back up and
flood dozens of homes.
Dead Are Listed.
The dead from the waters
which spilled out Of the Clear
Fork and West Fork of the Trim
ity River at Fort Worth yesterday
to a depth Of Is feet in some
spots were:
Dee Pennington, 66, city water
works employe; Lucille Scott,
Negro; Mrs. Josa Kent, 80; Rene
St. John. q: Donald Leroy De-
weese, Is; John B. Franks, and
an unidentified white woman
about so.
Mrs. Charity Smith was killed
by the tornado, which hit near
Spur. Her daughter-in-law and
seven grandchildren and one
other woman were hurt.
About 10 homes were smashed
by the twister. one Of q series in
west Texas yesterday.
Other Texas Towns Hit.
Others hit these Texas towns
or in their vicinity: Memphis.
Southland, Rochester. Silverton.
Daugherty and In Floyd County
in the rich wheat and cotton belt
of the South Plains.
The Oklahoma twisters did scat
tered damage in the Anadarko-
Binger area about so miles south
west of Oklahoma City in Caddo
County.
Torrential rains that concen-
trated over local areas turned
fiatlands into lakes and creeks
into overnight rivers.
The worst food was at the
university town Of Norman. which
was hit by q tornado itself only
two weeks ago. Five inches OF
rain fell in less than three hours.
turning the town and the Univer-
sity Of Oklahoma campus into q
river. On the main campus. the
water was knee deep. Norman