Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1892 — DEATH-DEALING FLOOD [ARTICLE]

DEATH-DEALING FLOOD

FEARFUL CALAMITY AT SIOUX CITY. A Cloud-Burst Claim* Upward of Thirty Victims and Inflicts 81,000,000 Damage —An Insignificant Stream SwoUen to a Highly Torrent. Death on Its Crest. Wednesday morning the most fearful flood ever known in lowa struck Sioux City. It was the result of a cloudburst in the valley of the Floyd River. The loss of life is appalling, but its exact extent is not yet known. Fifteen bodies have already been recovered, and it is feared the victims will be at least double that number. Reports of the missing show fully 100 persons are not yet accounted for. Most of them are children, and it is thought that the majority of them have wandered away in their tenor and are being sheltered by strangers. The valley of the Floyd, from the manufacturing suburb of Leeds down to the Missouri, is from one to two miles wide, a low flat, and includes the manufacturing and industrial districts of the city, the railroad yard and shops, and the houses of a large part of the laboring classes of the city. The water came down with a rush and in an hour the valley was a roaring sea from river to bluff. The river continued to rise, coming up Third and Fourth streets in the Missouri bottom at the rate of two’ blocks an hour and reaching across most of the business part of town. The people were taken by surprise and some were so struok by terror as to be unable to make a move to escape. One rider in a sulky was met by the wave as It came up Fourth street and was drowned. Many fled but half dressed. Others were unaware of the danger and their first warning was when they were snatched by the rescuers, placed in wagons and hurried to plaoes oi safety. There were many helpers, but most of them, having no boats, were powerless. Early in the day a woman was seen wading in the stream, holding a child above her head. A rescuing party went for her in a boat, but the current carried them by, and the woman and child were seen to disappear under a mass of rubbish and were drowned. Nellie West and a man named Polly and three children were also drowned, and when last seen the mother was wildly waving a piece of carpet out of a second-story window as the house floated away. One old lady was found sitting astride the roof of a house up to the eaves in water and was rescued.

A house containing a man, a woman, and a large family of children floated down the-center of the stream. It struck a bridge and went under. The rescuers made for the spot and the woman was rescued after four attempts. Cheer on cheer went up from the throats of the watchers on the road. A house with Beven oocupants floated down, and a barge made several unsuccessful attempts and finally saved all of them. One man was seen swimming ashore with a woman and a child on his back. The woman was chilled and frightened, and dropped, the infant. One woman gave birth to a girl baby, and both will survive the terrible day. A rescuing crew of two men, whose names could not be learned, saved several families and finally, in order to get a family out, cut into the roof of a house. They got the family of three, a man, wife, and child, and started for the shore. The boat capsized in the middle of the stream and all five were drowned. Twenty-one bodies were seen to pass under the structure of the elevated railroad in a space of two hours after the flood came. To add to the horror the rising water slacked lime in the Queal &' Co. lumber yards. Pieces of this huge raft of blazing lumber floated down the stream, setting fire to houses in their path. The first note of warning was a telegram received from Hinton, twelve miles up the valley, saying that a four-, teen-foot rise was coming. Intelligence was sent to the police station, and Chief Hawman was notified. He sent at once for an engine, loaded a boat, and started up the Illinois Central tracks for Leeds. The wave was struck when but a short distance up, and the bofvt was launched at once. From one house three children were taken, but the mother could not be rescued and perished. From another house seven people were taken who had crawled., into the attic. Five people were removed from a tree. The debris piled up so that it would bear the weight of a man and greatly hindered the work. When the word came Captain of Police Wicks an 1 a posse made haste for the flat and warned as many as coujd be reached before the flood came. Many would not listen to words of warning, saying they had seen high water before. They stayed and were drowned. Others were saved, with little of their belongings.

The water rose four feet in one hour and a half, and from 9 o’clock continued to rise steadily, but not so rapidly. Probably 1,000 inhabitants of the city live on the low ground which is overflowed. So j’apid was the rise of the tide that great numbers were unable to escape and the work of rescue engag ed every energy of the people. At 10 o’clock the fire alarm was sounded to call out more workers. All the boats from the boat houses on the Sioux River were brought in and used to save life and property. At 1 o’clook p. m. the water had reached to Jenning’s store on Fourth street. The Hotel Fowle and the Boston Investment Company’s building were surrounded. The Union depot was cut off at 9 o’olock. It is estimated that 8,000 .people have been driven from their homes. All business Is suspended. Before noon the ladies had several soup and lunch houses opened for the flood sufferers. At nbon 375 people had registered for relief and the applications had then only Just been begun. The scenes along the verge of the waters were pitiful. There was neither gaslight nor electric light, as both plants were under water. The water was slowly receding at night. A citizens’ meeting at the courthouse organized to provide several thousand people with shelter. The damage to property will reach $4,000,000. The loss of the Sioux City and Northern Railroad will exceed $200,000. Miles of cedar block paving were washed out.