THE JOHNSTOWN FLOODS. JOHNSTOWN AND OTHER TOWNS SUBMERGED. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DROWNED. HOUSES AND BRIDGES SWEPT AWAY. AN AMERICAN HORROR.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 381, 29 June 1889, Page 3

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOODS. JOHNSTOWN AND OTHER TOWNS SUBMERGED. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DROWNED. HOUSES AND BRIDGES SWEPT AWAY.

AN AMERICAN HORROR.

JoHNstowN (Pa.) was on the 51st ult. vieited by the worst flood ever experienced. The Pennsylvania Railroad is blockaded on account of "the water on the | track, and 100 houses are inundated, atid people are being removed froui.the second-storey windows. Conemaugh River has swept away thousands of dollars' worth of property. This, stream has its source in the mountains, where there was a water-6pout on the morning 1 of the 71st. A , telegram from New. Floi*ence states that che water is. twenty-three feet above low-water mark,, and almost, every bridge on the river has been swept aAvay. An artificial lake three miles .above this place, covering an ar.ea of one square mile; with an average depth of twenty' feet} burst and the great' body of water poured into the raging Conemaugh. , Several hundred people would, have -"been drowned had not people given the alarm and' the inhabitants in the lowlands left- home:

awful Sights. * " ' Pittsburgh May 31. Houses are seen going down fche river by the dozen, with people clinging to their roofs. Afc Cokefcown,- a village of several hundred inhabitants, the houses /ire almost submerged. TJie 'same is true" of many dwellings at Blairsville. Scarce a dwelling near Sang Hollow can be seen.' The bridges at Bolivar* and 2sfineveh~,bave been swept away. A boy was rescued by men in the . signal tower of the rajljvay. company. He said that with his' father, mother, brother and two sisters at Sang Hollow he was swept away in a/. light frame house which was then? home. He was washed away from the building. ; He said theother , members of the family were in it •when it was swept over the. breast of the new stone railroad bridge at Johnstown. It capsized a "few. seconds lafeer, and, all were drowned. The railroad operators officially reported that before dar£ they were able to coant 119 persons clinging to buildings or wreckage, or drowned and floating in the current. If this is true the damage in the town must .amount tb complete destruction. Frotn all that can be learned, as all telegraph lines around Johnstown are down, the reservoir af the dam on the South Fork town broke, the banka of which had . "been overflowed by the heavy rains, and an volume of water rushed down ' apbn the city, sweeping everything before "^jlfand leaving death and destruction in its wake. Late to-night reports from the vicinity of Johnstown say at least five ' hundred people have been drowned. The loss of life may be even greater. The people of Johnstown had been warned of the impending floods early this afternoon, but no person living near the reservoir knew the dam had given way until the great flood swept the houses off their foundations, tore the timbers apart, and es- - cape from the torrent was impossible. Later, despatches indicate that the tempest covers a far wider range than at first indicated! It raged with terrific violence throughout Indiana, Cambria, Westmoreland, Blair, Huntington, Muffin, Juniata, , ,and Perry counties, carrying away telegraph wires, flooding and washing out rail'jroads and converting mountain streams into raging resistless torrents, and carrying death and devastation along their path. The Little Juniata, Frankstown Branch and Juniata rivers for a great part of the year are mere brooks, but are now over thirty feet deep. ♦ All the railroads and waggon bridges as far as heard from are swept down and countless houses swept away. Widespread suffering and privation is certain to follow. The loss of human lives and property is beyond present computation. ■

STILL RAINING. | Tysone (Pa.), May 31. The Juniata- River has overflown and flooded the entire southern portion of the city, causing great destruction to property. TheSusquehanna is overflowed at Clearfield, and the entire place is under water. All means of escape are cut off and many people are gathered in the court-house and opera houses as places of safety. Ib is still raining hard and the water is rising rapidly.

HARRISBURG FLOODED. Habrisbueg, May 31. Since this mornings nearly five inches of rain has fallen in this vicinity, causing a flood of dangerous proportions. Many houses in the lower parts of the city are partially submerged and the occupants are compelled to vacate, boats being used to rescue them. Paxbon Creek, a small stream, has expanded into a mighty river, threatening much damage. A large portion of Sbeelton, two miles east of here, is under water.

CROPS RUINED. Piedmont (W. Va.), May 31. The destruction by flood in this vicinity is terrible. The loss will reach $250,000, and many greatly exceed that. Crops are ruined everywhere, and houses, barns, fences and lumber are swept away. In one case a loss of life is reported. The victim was a child. .