Snowstorms Add to Americas Plight

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 28, 3 February 1937, Page 5

Snowstorms Add to Americas Plight

Widespread Disorganisation In Western States 35 LOST IN BARGE DISASTER United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Received Tuesday, 9.50 p.m. NEW YORK, Feb. 2. The bodies of five of those who were aboard the steel barge which sank at New Madrid were recovered by the use of grappling hooks. Thirty others are missing. Ambassador Bingham has arrived in New York from London en route to his home in Louisville to assist in the rehabilitation. General Grayson announced that the Red Cross was only a few hundred dollars short of its goal of ten millio'i dollars, but urged contributions to continue in view of the fact that relief cost 17,000,000 dollars in the 1927 floods which affected only half as many. Meanwhile the forecast is for warmer temperatures and thaws with threatened floods in Western Oregon where Portland is buried in the heaviest snowstorm in its history. Snow blocked the highways in the States of Washington and Oregon and the mountains '.f Northern California, also two main roads in Utah. The coastal area has been warned that a new storm would blow from the Pacific to-night. Sixteen inches of snow in Portland paralysed business, closed schools and marooned trams. It is estimated that 50,000 persons are snowbound in Oregou alone. Oue electric train reached Spokane, Washington, four days late. The temperatures are again at freezing point in the Southern California citrus area. WAVES OVER FLOOD RAMPARTS CAIRO TO BE EVACUATED • MONTREAL. FebT 1. Lashed by wind and a swift current, waves broke over the lower rampart of the 60-foot -onCrete seawall at Cairo and hammered ominously at the frail, three-foot superstructure hurriedly raised over the wall All women and children have been ordered to leave the city immediately. This is the second evacuation, but some of the inhabitants drifted back when it was reported that there was no immediate danger impending. in shifts throughout tho day and night 4400 workmen were repairing weak spots in the dykes. A single exit waa left open through which these workmen might escape at the last minute in tho event of flight being necessary. Hundreds of boats are standing by. A break in the secondary dyke near Tiptonville, Tennessee, roleased the Mississippi waters into an area already covered by backwaters, but apparently no one is endangered. The engineers said the main levees were holding all along the river. A heavy steel barge containing an undetermined number of W.P.A. workers, estimated at between 6o and 250, sank near New Madrid, Missouri. The authorities are unable to establish whether any were drowned although it ir reported that 30 or 40 aro missing. Four were treated at an emergency hospital. It is believed the bargo struck a snag. Prayers were offered in many Cincinnati churches for no more rain. Louisville authorities have decided on an absolute quarantine of the submerged western area of tho city. It is feared tho damage will exceed 100,000,000 dollars. The estimate of the damage to submerged motors alone is set at 2,900,000 dollars.