Evening star., 1951-07-17
Flood Crest Hits
Smaller Towns
Along Missouri
Kansas City Begins
HercuIeun Task of
Cleaning Up Debris
By the Associated Press

modified today for a Herculean
cleanup task as flood waters,
swirling eastward. struck new
blows at Missouri River towns.
Receding flood waters in this
metropolitan area of 100000 left
block after block of muck covered
ruin.
And in Kansas, a line of
wrecked or partially damaged
towns and cities stretched across
the eastern and central parts of
the State.
The latest damage estimate for
Kansas and Missouri is $3.50 mil
lion-the Nations costliest flood.
Water still covered many Sec
tions. but it was fast slipping
back into river channels here
and in Kansas.
Small Missouri Towns Hit.
But to the east of Kansas City,
small towns along the Missouri
felt the full force of the turbu-
lent river. lexington Yelling
ton, Norborne and Hardin, Mo-,
were flooded. Some dikes in Gen.
trail Missouri gave way.
The runoff of Kansas flood
waters also buffeted Oklahoma.
in Northeastern Oklahoma,
suffered its worst flood beating in
history from the Neosho-Grand
River.
High water poured over 1870 to
$50 blocks of the town of 10000.
forcing approximately $500 per-
sons from their homes.
The flood has brought death to
II persons, tied up highway and
rail transportation, forced more
than 10000 from their homes and
severely damaged the industrial
capacity of numerous towns and
cities.
Fire Left to Burn Out.
In Kansas City, Kans., and
Kansas City, Mo-, four major in
dustrial areas covering thousands
of acres were flooded. Water dur
ing the height of the flood stood
more than 20 feet deep in some
places.
A flve-day old fire that ravaged
a block area and injured
IA f1remen was left to burn itself
out. Fire Chief Harvey Baldwin
called it the most destructive
Kansas City fire in more than 30
years.
The fire destroyed or damaged
"a major firms. Preliminary
estimates indicated damage would
run we'll over ST. million. The
flames were fed by oil and gaso-
line floating on flood waters.
Receding waters left scenes of
desolation. Houses standing on
end, lying on their sides or tilted
at weird angles. Porches hung on
the tops of light poles, bedding
on utility wires.
Tanks and barrels were perched
on roofs. Household furniture
was smashed and covered with
thick mud. Piles of debris-foat-
ing lumber, porches, roofs and
window frames were swept against
some buildings.
Salvage Work Started.
It will be weeks before wrecked
gas lines, broken water mains and
telephone and light circuits can
be repaired.
In the flooded industrial dis
trict. workers sought to salvage
what they could from first and
second floors where waters had
swept over machinery and other
installations.
In meat packing plants, crews
worked day and night to save
perlShableS. Refrigeration units
were wrecked.
One company took out more
thar a million pounds of meat
in boats and still have several
million more pounds to remove.
Livestock that survived the flood
also were being moved to higher
as the water level dropped.
Engineers worked feverishly to
restore to operation the Turkey
Creek pumping station, which nor
mally supplies two thirds of Kan
sas City, Mo-, with water. The
full task of supplying the city is
now beng carried by one station.
Water Pressure Improves.
Water pressure was improving
although there still was a serious
shortage in some sections.
A non-prof1t organizarior-Dis-
aster Corps, Inc.-has been set
up here to clean up flood damage.
Crews will operate "a hours a day.
Union officials estimated ap-
(See FLOOD. Page A-4)