Army Of Workers Removing Mud And Debris As Military Patrols Entire Business Area
BANKS, THEATRES CONTINUE CLOSED
$250,000 Bond Issue To Repair Damage Discussed By City Council This Morning
A steady drop in the Potomac River and Wills Creek continued today, and at noon the river was less than six feet above normal.
Death Toll Mounts As Swirling Waters Move Into New Territories
Pestilence and Shortages of Food and Water Intensifies Terror, Destitution and Misery
PROPERTY DAMAGES MOUNT TO TENS OF MILLION OF DOLLARS
Nation’s Capital Preparing for Rise of Potomac River; Sandbag Walls Thrown Up Around Washington Monuments and Lincoln Memorial
BY H. H. HIPPELHEUSER
The worst floods in eastern United States history moved menacingly down into western Virginia and Ohio today, claiming a reported death toll of at least 71.
THE MORNING HERALD, HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND.
Relief Is Rushed To Flooded Areas
Dr. R. H. Riley Takes Charge of Health Situation in Potomac Valley-—Red Cross and Other Agencies Cooperate
Baltimore, March, 19 -Relief was rushed tonight into the floodstricken Potomac valley as the river, having claimed four lives in its mighty rush from Cumberland, bore down on Washington.
WILLIAMSPORT JAMMED WITH THOUSANDS TO VIEW POTOMAC
Traffic Conditions So Heavy That Autoists Detoured through Town—Local Officers Assist in Traffic
With Williamsport crowded with automobiles congesting every available parking space, large forces of policemen last night prohibited any additional traffic through the town.
From early morning to late at night, the Williamsport pike was jammed with traffic bearing persons anxious to witness the flood spectacle.
Williamsport And Hancock Still Buried Under Water
Flood Receding Only Slightly; Towns Without Light; Persons Able To Reach Only Second Stories of Inundated Homes In Boats; Property Losses Will Run Into Thousands of Dollars
Hagerstown, Md., March 19. — Flood conditions at Williamsport were reported as but slightly improved this morning. The Potomac has receded two feet since midnight when the 'crest of 49.8 feet was reached, over five feet higher than the Johnstown flood of 1889. Continued decline of water is expected.
Cat Rescued From Flood
An act of humanity was performed at Williamsport this morning when Luther Silvers and Newton McAllister rescued a cat from a tree standing out in the flood below the canal bridge.
The cat had taken refuge in the tree as the waters rose and was only a few feet above the rising flood when the rescuers reached it in a boat.
Company B Off To Cumberland
W. P. A. Workers Aid In Flood
Blanket Orders By President Being Carried Out In This Section.
Acting under blanket authority given today by President Roosevelt for the use of WPA workers where ever they are needed in flood zones, S. C. Cromwell, WPA director for this area at Frederick, authorized the use of WPA men at Williamsport, Hancock and other places in this section.
Red Cross Aids In Flood Region
Representatives Come Here To Visit Towns Along Potomac.
Representatives of the American Red Cross from Washington arrived here this morning to extend relief to persons in the towns beleaguered by the Potomac flood. Local Red Cross workers co-operated with the representatives, who endeavored to reach Cumberland as one of the first points of contact, but owing to conditions in that section it was doubtful if they could get to the stricken town.
WILLIAMSPORT, HANCOCK AREA IN FLOOD PATH
Potomac River Also Leaps Banks At Harper's Ferry—No Trains Running
CREST LATE TODAY
Potomac-Edison Power Plant Shut. Down— High Water Blocks Highways
Williamsport, Md., Mar. 18. The rising Potomac river swept away several small buildings here today and forced the Potomac-Edison power plant to shut down.
The closing of the plant left Williamsport without electric current and caused the pumping plant of the Hagerstown water system to
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BUILDINGS FLOATING IN RIVER; HANCOCK BRIDGE MAY GO OUT
River Reaches 38 Feet At Williamsport And Still Rising; Scores Of Club houses Swept into Swirling Waters; Most Of Hancock Is Under Water.
The Potomac River Valley today is experiencing its worst flood since the days of the memorable Johnstown flood of 1889. The swirling waters had passed the Johnstown flood peak at Hancock, in which section a number of houses on the West Virginia side of the river were carried away into the river and the bridge across the Potomac there threatened to collapse momentarily.