Terrible Cyclone in America

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 119, 1 April 1890, Page 2

Terrible Cyclone in America

GREAT LOSS OF LIFE AND PROPERTY. By Electric Telegraph.-— Copyright IT'SB. UNITED PBKSS ASSOCIATION? skw Yobk, March 28. Accounts have reached here of a terrible cyclone which has been experienced, in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and other districts on the west-hand bank of the Mississippi River. The number of persons killed cannot yet be ascertained, but at present it is set down at about 500. The fury of the cyclone seemed to be most felt in Kentucky, where the whole of the Ohio Valley is _ reported to be totally devastated, and to" present an awful picture of desolation. ' The City of Louisville, on the Ohio, is in ruins, the principal buildings and.residences having been wrecked by the fury •of the storm. The Town Hall was struck while a dance was going on. The building was completely destroyed and a terrible scene ensued. To add to the completeness of the disaster the gasometers, exploded, and 300 of those present were killed either by the explosion or the falling d4bris. March 29. Further reports of the cyclone experienced along the left benk of the Mississippi state that the railway station at Louisville was swept bodily into the Ohio River. Two thousand houses were levelled to the ground, and trains and trams were blown off the tracks. Owing to the houses being wrecked the city was speedily in flames at many points, and. numbers of ; the unfortunate residents who were unable, to escape from the debrjs were burnt to death. A party of Scotch tourist farmers | and several English travellers were killed. 1 The metropolis of Illinois was destroyed, engulphing the Catholic Church, which was full of refugees. .The low lands of Arkansas and Mississippi were flooded and hundreds drowned. The tornado affected all the Western States and was felt worst' in Ohio Valley. In Indiana the cylone swept everything in its path for a width of 500 yds, and the towns of Bowling Green, Jefferson ville and Newport suffered greatly from the tornado and floods. The mortality of Louisville is estimated at under one hundred, and the loss to property at two millions. March 30. The cyclone, which was of the combined nature of a tornado and snow blizzard; ploughed a track from Nebraska to New York, 1114 miles long and a third of a mile in breadth. Amongst other towns Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, suffered,severely. The storm was predicted by the weather bureau, but the populace were incredulous. The embankment of; the Mississippi is yielding, and a fearful flood is expected. The loss of property at Cardwill was enormous. Only a few houses are left standing, the cyclone having either wholly or partially destroyed' the rest. Marbirig is enveloped by a large body of water, and it is believed the dam has burst in the hills. Th c inhabitan t 3 have been rescued. At Texas all the principal buildings were washed away, and a man named Grazer j was drowned. -