TERRIBLE FLOODS.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 923, 23 June 1903, Page 2

TERRIBLE FLOODS.

LOSS OF LIFE AND ENORMOUS DAMAGE. (By Tel'-graph.) (Per Ii.M.S. Ventura, at Auckland.) San Francisco, June 4. Terrible floods have indicted ling-: of life and enormous damage to crops, buildings, and property oi ail sorts. A despaton from Kansas City, ;<lis~ nr., of June 2, says: A blue sky was visiOio above IvansCity tins afternoon at lour ~i cluck, lm nuns have ended. The sun aas visible for mo first time in a week, and for that and otlier reasons it is thought tlie great dangers ct a llood are j past. Tile waters uf Kansas river bate taileu eight inches to-day, and to-night are steudi.v declining at the rate of about half an inch per huur. In tiie Missouri the 1 high stage of thirty-five feet is still maintamed, but this is due to the rise which is coming down the Missouri proper, and lias been able to oil set the fall in the Kansas, it is the water of the latter stream, how-

ever, tiiat lias caused all tiie damage in this city, and in Kansas City, Kansas, and with it at a normal stage business can soon be resumed at Kansas City. This city lias narrowly escaped a shortage of food, lias faced the peril of fire, helpless to avert the consequence, has suffered millions of dollars’ damage to property and kiss of life that- will probably never be accurately known.

In Topeka, Kansas City, and Missouri, and in the country round about fifty thousand pouple are homeless and destitute. Thousands are huddled together ill the puoiic buildings of the cities named, and several cases of contagious diseases among tnese have aroused a fear thill the flood disaster may be followed by a pestilence.

The Governor ul Kansas will be compelled to call for general assistance, as the cdies are unable tu citto lor thu destitute

or restore the ravages oi Hood. That assistance will pour in is nut doubted, as the whole nation lias watched the disaster with great anxiety and sympathy Kansas City, Mo., estimates the property less m tiiat city alone at from ten to twenty-five million dollars. Dcs Moines, lowa, suffered terribly. The river is still

six to eight miles wide near that point, and in every direction refugees may bo seen on roots oi houses, or in branches of trees, waiting for help. Tho same conditions prevailed over an enormous area, and men, women, and children spent days and nights in suen conditions lit hundreds of instances. Towns are under water all along the Mississippi, and the crops of the. lowlands over a vast area arc totally ruined, in flooded freight yards cars were loosened from their trucks, and numbers of these were carried iu tiie flood, becoming m their turn batlory rums for tlio destruction of buildings and property. Railway traffic bus been almost at a standstill, mni Kansas City has narrowly escaped the horror of starvation, it happened tiiat the meat storage houses wore well packed, and provisions were secured and distributed by means of rafts of all surfs.

Kansas City fears tv new troublo when tho walls of undermined brick and other structures bogiu to crumble.

At Dos Moines the flood has somewhat subsided, hut the conditions tiro heartbreaking. Citizens, returning tu places tiiat were their homes, find furniture, carpets, and walls covered with mud and slime, aud usually past restoratiou. Officials will try aud keep people from returning to the ruins, as pestilence might follow.

Kansas City has beoti without a regular water supply, but tho lluud waters will soon be pumped into tho reservoirs, where it will be available for sanitary purposes, and as a piotecLiou against tiro. Altogether, the miseries of this llood can hardly ho told. The loss of lifo may not roach a thousand, but tho distress and suffering cannot ho measured in figures, nor described in words. Mass meetings everywhere have decided to call for help, which must he sent out, since flic afflicted localities arc far from being ahio to carry tho awful burdou of woe.

Despatches from Kansas show that tho territory affected m tuas State alone in u strip two huudred miles long by toulto fiiteen wide, all under a high state ol cultivation. All tins is still submerged from one to ten feet, and little is known oi tho fate oi the inhabitants. Tiie loss to cattle, crops, bur. ,h, fences, and homes will certainly run into millions. At Manhattan ten miles of water surround the town in every direction High railway oatiks alouo saved the city from destruction. Men, women, aud children were carried in buats aud waggons to the hills, and many escaped in the country by wading through the water waist deep. Fifteen huudred people are sheltered io Kansas Agricultural College buildings. Four birtns occurred here during one night. The railroads havo plonty ol work caring for stranded passengers. At Lawrence, Kansas, conditions are improving, but people arc now watching the buildings crumbling and being carried away by U.a flood. Tue electric light plants and water supplies were interfered with everywhere. At Hutchinson, Kansas, the city hail anti courthouse wore under water aud the lights out. The hanks, Garnegio library, theatre, and most business houses and homes were flooded. Tho town la in a Juke five miles square, with only five hundred houses above water. The Federal Government has ordered every possible assistance to be given, and

at Fort Leavenworth electric cars, loaded with blankets and provisions, are being despatched to tho sullercrs as fast us the conditions of the roads will permit. The cessation of the downpour is the most merciful aid that oan be given tho aliiicted district, audit is believed tbe sunshine will now do its part in repairing the damage-, and comforting the uufortuuate people o£ the flooded district.