Evening star., 1951-07-22
Continued From First Page.)

IOT b river tnat COulQ never gel
over those dikes.
Mrs. Ted Mcneil crossed over
to the Missouri side after the first
warnings. Then, around 3 am.
she went back to Armourdale. She
had forgotten to turn off the gas
and the troopers let her past be-
cause they were afraid of fire.
She was still there at $40 when
the first little wave Tapped over
the top of the levee and spilled
harmlessly down the sides. Then
there was another and another.
Suddenly, great, bull-should-
cred wave of water hurtled the
levee and roared eastward
through houses and factories and
even big buildings. In its fury,
it tore down trees and telephone
poles and bludgeoned the little
frame houses to bits.
Mrs. Mcneil is one Of the few
people who actually saw the
juggernaut.
Houses Disintegrated.
She saw it rage through the
streets, an idiotic giant, hurting
trucks and automobiles through
the glass fronts of the stores.
Houses were torn from their
foundations. Some disintegrated
into kindling instantly. Some
smashed against the sides of other
buildings. The bricks in q gasoline
service station flew through the
air like a handful Of BIB shot
when the water hit.
She even saw a 1,000-gallon oil
tank bouncing along like a ping
pong ball on the boiling stream
and heading toward her house.
She had been too frightened to
move before then. She was alone
in the house with a 4-year -old
daughter. Her husband, a Kansas
National Guardsman, was on duty
on the other side Of the river.
II got out then. I took the baby
in my arms and ran"
She was not far from highe.
ground and she made 1t safely.
She has not seen her house since.
Maniac's Holiday.
The next five hours, on the
morning of black Friday. the 18th,
were a maniac's holiday.
The Kansas River, where 1t
nears the Missouri, forms to US.
One of them is inverted. In the
bends are the districts of Armour
dale. Argentine. and the central
industrial district.
The land is low there. 1t houses
miles of railway freight and
switching yards, livestock pens,
packing houses, oil storage tanks
and scores of factories and small
businesses, as well as residences of
workers in these plants.
Concrete flood walls and stone
faced earthen levees cage the river
at this point. 1t broke out of the
cage that day, preaching the walls
at some points, spilling over the
top at others.
1t threw locomotives and freight
cars around like toys.
Plunging across the lowlands, it
hit the Missouri River flood walls
from behind, built up to a level
Of more than feet, then cascaded
into the Missouri below, a thun-
dering cataract.
Gasoline Floats on Stream.
Fires broke out when the oil
tanks were ripped from their
foundations. Raw gasoline came
floating down the stream.
Three giant barges snapped
steel cable moorings and were
swept-on 12-mile-an-hour cur
'ent-toward the Hannibal Bridge.
There was heroism everywhere.
These Midwesterners are brave
people.
Firemen waded into the water,
up to their armpits, fighting the
fires. II the gasoline in the
stream had caught, they would
have been incinerated.
On the Hannibal Bridge, crew.
men worked frantically to open
the span, which swings laterally,
so the barges could pass. It moved
with agoniZing slowness but they
might have won the race if the
machinery had not jammed.
They worked until the barges were
only yards away, coming fast, and
then they ran for their lives. One
barge passed, safely. The other
crashed into the bridge. 1t trem-
bled and shuddered but held firm.
Men lost fortunes in minutes.
Thousands Of Hogs Swept Away.
A stock raiser saw 4,400 Of his
hogs swept out of the yards and
INTO the river. They represented
about $40 a head.