HEAVY DEATH ROLL

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 26, 22 April 1927, Page 9

HEAVY DEATH ROLL

AMERICAN FLOODS MISSISSIPPI SWEEPS ON 80,000 PEOPLE HOMELESS By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Received 10 a.m. KANSAS CITY, Thursday. Braving the storm sweeping down the Mississippi Valley in advance of the crest of the greatest floods in the history of the river thousands of men were conscripted on Thursday to strengthen the dykes which so far protected the southern lowlands. The inundations caused millions of dollars of damage further north. The devastated States are Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and hardest hit of all Arkansas, where epidemics of contagious diseases are the latest calamity menacing the refugees. Half a section of the railway bridge over the Arkansas River at Little Rock has been carried away with a rock-laden train which failed to hold the structure down. The Red Cross is issuing an appeal there. On Thursday evening boats of lifesavers saved hundreds of families who would have drowned in the next few hours unless rescued. The gravity of the disaster caused by the floods and cyclones is increasing hourly. At present it is estimated that there are 160 dead, and it is feared that the list will be much heavier, as many of the inundated areas have not yet been penetrated. There are 1,000 injured and 80,000 homeless.

The damage to property is variously estimated at from 20 to 50,000,000 dollars.—A. and N.Z.-Sun.