Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1883 — raging Torrents. [ARTICLE]

raging Torrents.

Tnrriblo Effects of the Freshet ip Ohio and* Pennsylvania. The recent floods throughout the central, group of States caused a frightful devastation of property, the losses being estimated in the" millions. Pennsylvania and Ohio seem to have suffered the worst. At Cleveland alone the damage is placed at not less than $500,003. The loss was occasioned by the overflow of the Cuyahoga river, which wrecked vessels, carried away bridges, and piled millions of feet of lumber in a confused mass along the river front In and around Akron, Ohio, the damage is estimated at $1,000,000. The Scioto river went on a boom at Columbus, and many residences in the lower part of the town were drowned out, the inhabitants being rescued in boats Great damage was done to the railroads in the Western Reserve, while the news from the oil district in Pennsylvania is one long chronicle of disaster. At Pittsburgh and Allegheny City immense losses occurred, aud reports from various districts in Indiana show that the floods were very severe there Many railroad accidents, several of which were of a serious and fatal character, are reported, the high water having carried away bridges and trestle-work, or weakened them so that they gave way under the weight of traina A Pittsburgh dispatch says: “The damage bv the flood in the immediate vicinity of Pittsburgh and Allegheny City will not be less than $200,000. Most of it is in the destruction of small river craft The rest is in the inundation of dwellings, manufactories and oil refineries.” At Fremont, Ohio, five ont of six iron bridges were carried away, and mnch damage inflicted upon private property. In Lawrence county, Ohio, the water drowned out $100,(XM) worth of property. In Butler county, Pa, the Pittsburgh and Western railroad loses every bridge . from Colliery Junction to Allegheny. Whole columns might be consumed in reciting instances of the destructive nature of,the flood, but these samples are sufficient to give the reader an idea of the vast damage entailed by the watery visitation.