BURST DAM DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 15 March 1928, Page 2

BURST DAM DISASTER

(Australian Press Association & Sun. 274 BODIES RECOVERED. - NEW YOB K, March 13. News from His Angelos states that 274 Bodies of victims of the Dam disaster have been recovered. Ihe list unidentified is growing hourly. NEW YORK, .March 13. The first official announcement of liie cau.so of the collapse of the dam, states the 'belief tJiat the water saturated the ground on either side of Hie .-tincture and weakened the Mipperts. Reports regarding earthquake blasts are discredited, and ibought to hate been due to the crossing power lilies going down with’the sweep of the water. .Ml that remains ol the dam. as noted by an aeroplane, is a single block of concrete in the centre of the valley. Most- of the damage was done at Santa Baida, where 75 are known to he dead. These were unable to escape. Notice was given bv the ponce sirens which allowed many in otliei towns to reaiTi the hills before the flood came down. Many of the bodies now in the morgues ate those of children. FURTHER’ PARTICULARS. (Received this day at 10.15 a.mA NEW YORK. March 15. A message from Los Angeles states Mayor CYyer has announced the City of Los Angeles would take care of all property damage caused by the flood. The most conservative estimates place the damage at not less than ten million dollars. Six investigations into the cause of the dam’s collapse are under way. President Coolidge has offered Federal aid if necessary. Rescue workers have hardly more than begun to he able to work in the devastated areas. 287 bodies have been recovered. Three hundred to four hundred people have been listed as missing. Many bodies have been located that cannot lie reached jiiM now and others nr" probably buried deep in silt and will never he found. Stragglers are beginning to come in from isolated points carrying dead. Nearly all the people in the valley are searching through hills and milts for relatives. Children seem to he the majority of those killed. More than a thousand men with shovels, picks and tractors are working to clear away mud and silt.