RESERVOIR DAM BURSTS

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1928, Page 2

RESERVOIR DAM BURSTS

HUNDREDS OF LIVES LOST. (Australian Press Association & Sun. (Received this day at 9.30 a.m). VANCOUVER, March 13. A message from Los Angeles states it is estimated two to live hundred lives were lost in the break of St. Francis reservoir dam, San Francisquito Canyon, forty-five miles north of here to-day, sending a wall o( water rushing to the sea. A SHOCKING DISASTER. ONE HUNDRED BODIES FOUND. The dam broke without warning, due to continued heavy rains, although it was first stated that the break was the result ot .an earthquake. The Hood poured through several small settlements wiping out citrus groves, and.small ranches, and threatening the oil wells in Southern California. Edison plant immediately'below the dam was destroyed and sev-enty-five workmen are unaccounted for, besides employees of the power plants. Behind the dam was stored thirteen hundred million gallons of \\atei. Reports from rescue workers at ten o’clock stated one hundred bodies had been recovered at a point where the flood watsr entered Santa Paula and Santa Clara Rivers. LOS ANGELES, March 13. Messages state seven towns and cities in the flood's sixty mile path through Santa Clara valley to the sea are feared to have been wiped out. All communications are cut off. The dam crushed under the pressure of water from a cloudburst high in the Sierras. Thirty-eight thousand acres of water swept into the valley. The town most severely damaged are Newhall. Fihnore Saugus, Pieru Santa, Paula Satiey, ' Castiac,' Oburg, Camara ills. The City of Ventura on the coast report ibe Santa Clara river beeanm a torrent fifty fed deep and two miles wide. Wrecked homes, animals and debris were carried on the crest of the Hood. Railroads and bridges were swept away. (Received this day at 10.15 a.m A NEW YORK. March 13. The death roll in the devastated Santa Clara Valley is mounting hourly. Rescuers are struggling frantically to penetrate the area,piled with wreckage and debris. The present check ot the death list indicates the total may go well beyond two hundred. ~ Unconfirmed reports state 194 bodies have been recovered. The fate oi more than four hundred families in the vicinity of New Hall in the direct path of the water is unknown. A colony of over a hundred employees of'the 1-os Angeles Power Coy. is believed to be tnipped between the Canyon. Atlas Western seismographs show there was no earthquake which could have caused the floods. IMMENSE DAMAGE! NEW YORK. March 13. The water is reaching the sea. Rescue workers and the Red Cross aie moving into the valley as the water recedes. Near the Pacific people are sti.. fleeing to the hills before the flood. Communications, railways and means of transportation are obliterated. Three thousand persons are lei t homeless. Reports from rescuers are most fragmentary. At Monta Lava on Sea. bodies are beginning to appear in tile water which is washing them from the higher sections. At Santa Paula bodies are said to he recovered as fast as ambulances can t;»ko thorn away. The supply line to Los Angeles snapped ami much petroleum was lost when oil lines were torn up. Great damage was done to walnut and citrus orchards which were torn up bv the roots over great areas. Edward Hyatt, the State engineer, states the dam which spanned the San Francisquito Canyon was in pertect condition when it was last inspected and says it does not seem likely it could have been dynamited by disgruntled farmers. VANCOUVER. March 13. U noon more than 125 bodies of men women and children had been recovered and the toll is growing hourly. _ The dam which was 195 feet high, imprisoned twelve billion gallons of water supplying Los Angeles, swept through the valley while the inhaitants and workmen slept, due loss to property is enormous-