Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 298, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1919 — FLOOD CAUSES GREAT DAMAGE IN SOUTH. [ARTICLE]

FLOOD CAUSES GREAT DAMAGE IN SOUTH.

Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 11.—High waiters that have flooded low-lying sections of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, generally were beginning to recede tonight, but Montgomery, Ala., and Macon, Ga.,’ were still in the grip of the flood. Property loss to industrial plants and their enforced shutting down as well as damage to buildings, loss of livestock and extensive damage to bridges and trestles has made the monetary toll of the floods run into the millions. Loss of life, however, has been small. Probably not more than a dozen lives have been lost. A thousand or more negroes are homeless, however, around Hattiesburg and Meridian, Miss. Railroad communication generally was paralyzed in the lower portions of Mississippi and Alabama and in Montgomery. The loss at West Point was estimated to amount to around $1,000,000. Food and water supplies were furnished by the Red Cross and neighboring towns. Several days will be required to resume commerce. Columbus still was without street car service and large textile mills and other plants in the Columbus section were shut down for lack of power. Loss in the Columbus section was estimated today to amount to $750,000.