Fear of Collapse of Large Stores

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 5

Fear of Collapse of Large Stores

New Crisis in Flood Drama Censorship Tighlened on News Regarding Dead United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Received Friday, 7.30 p.m. NEW YORK, Jan. 28. A new crisis is developing at Louisville where the Kaufanm Straus Company’s department stores, a four-storey building, are reported near collapse. Other larger buildings with the same foundations are feared also to be weakening. Meteorologists say the rains responsible for the flood are the greatest ever recorded in so short a time over such a large area. The average rainfall in the entire Ohio valley for 26 days has been 16 inches. Johnsonville, Tennessee, had the highest recording of 23.11 inches, which is 2611 tons of water per acre. Louisville had the highest of the larger cities, namely 18.58 iuehes. Secretary Wallace said the rains had been so heavy that no flood control projects could have prevented the inundation. Officials in Louisville have tightened censorship on the news regarding the number of dead and continue to insist that tlie fatalities are few. Two Associated Press photographers discovered boats unloading cargoes of dead near a pontoon bridge. When they took flash bulb pictures, the police and soldiers drove them away and threatened to smash their camex-as. There is no way of determining how many bodies the boats contained. One army official confided that 40 bodies had been carried across the bridge during the day. The same photographers got pictures of one trench at the cemetery in the highlands containing 150 caskets. It is learned that fingerprints of many of the unidentified dead have been taken in the hope of establishing identity later. The crest of the flood is nearing Paducah. Kentucky, from which it is estimated 15,000 have been evacuated. Eight hwndred are marooned in an hotel. Many are believed dead, but it is impossible to hunt for bodies due to the rising river.