Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 212, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 January 1930 — Page 1

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CITY AND FAMILIES FLEE AS WHITE RIVER RISES RAPIDLY T', est Xew \ ork Street Bridge Rocks on Foundation as Roaring Torrents Batter Against Span. SEVERAL ARE RESCUED IN BOATS Summer Resorts Inundated and Residential Districts in North Indianapolis Threatened as Waters Mount. White river, rising two inches an hour, this afternoon threatened North Indianapolis, and inundated summer resorts and residential districts in lowlands north of the city. Ihe river stood 17.6 feet at 12:30 p. m. In the west and southwest sections of the city, Big Eagle creek and the river overflowed their banks, to submerge hundreds of acres of land. Two families were removed by ‘ d-'puty sheriffs from houses in which they were marooned I in Mars Hill, south of Stout flying field. Flood level probably will be reached here this afternoon, according to the United States weather bureau reports.

The city street department barricaded the West New York bridge today, when police reported it was wobbling on its foundations, because of high water. Cold Wave on Way An intense cold wave, predicted to arrive here Wednesday, will retard swelling of the streams, but not until another rise of more than a foot is recorded. J. H. Armington, meteroologist, said. Temperatures will sink to within 10 degrees of zero by Wednesday night. Armington forecast- Rain general over the state today probably will turn to snow tonight. Wednesday will be clear in central Indiana, but- will bring snow in northern districts, and snow or rain in southern portions, he declared. The muddy tide of White river today burst through levees at Warflr eh. despite efforts of fifty men under Street Commissioner Wilbur W'inship. to check its advance with sandbags and gravel. Racks t'p on Avenue The water backed up Central avencu more than a block to the 6400 block, surrounding all home in that vicinity. Most of the residents vacated. Riverview drive was submerged tinder several feet of water. Patrol of the streets department was maintained between Illinois street and College avenue. Ravenswood and Riverview park, north of Broad Ripple, suffered most from the rising waters. Summer cottages at both resorts were inundated to their roofs. Moving vans dotted all roads leading from these beaches, as owners sought to save household effects. At Eighty-fifth street the river overflowed its east bank and was over the read leading to Nora. Several hundred acres of lowlands along White river, near South Harding street, south of West Raymond street, and near the city disposal plant, were inundated today, but with little damage. Several gravel properties are in the flooded area. Roadway Under Torrent South Harding street, south of Raymond street, was only a few inches above the river level, while south of the White River bridge, muddy waters swept the Harding street roadway to a depth of from two to three feet for more than a mile. School No. 20. Mars Hill, was closed when water flooded the basement and put heating equipment out of commission. In Lagoon park and Ravenswood, north of Broad Ripple, several summer homes were inundated. State highways in southern Indiana continued blocked. The following were flooded: Road 37. at Waverley. and between Bloomington and Bedford; Road 39, west of Martinsville; Road 46, between Nashville and Bloomington ; Road 50, at Medora, between Washington and Vincennes and at Shoals; Road 56, at Oakland City, and west of Princeton; Road 57, at Newberry; Road 61, between Vincennes and Petersburg; Road 62. three miles east of Leavenworth; Road 67. Centerton. between Martinsville and Spencer, and at Edwardsport; Road 150, west of West Baden: Road 16. between Akion and Silver Lake; Road 63 between Clinton and Lyford; and Road 59. north of Clay City. Two Schools Closed Two schools were closed by the flood. School No. 20. in Mars Hill, was flooded and the heating equipment put out of commission. School No. 47, West Ray street and W’arrea avenue, was closed when the

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The Indianapolis Times Rain, changing to snow tonight, clearing Wednesday; cold wave Wednesday; temperatures 5 to 10 above Wednesday night.

VOLUME 41—NUMBER 212

Temperatures

6 a. m 45 10 a. m 50 7a. m 45 11 a. m 50 Ba. m 46 12 tnoon).. 51 9 a. m 48 1 p. m 49 basement was filled with water backing up through sewers. Major H. G. Robb, secretary of the Indiana division of the Salvation Army, today went to New’ Albany. and will go from there into the flooded districts near Vincennes, to prepare for assistance to flood sufferers if the situation becomes acute. Rainfall in the state in the last week almost has equalled precipitation for March, 1913, w’hen the state experienced one of the worst floods in its history. From four to six inches of rain have fallen in various parts of Indiana during the last w’eek, according to Armington. Eight inches fell in the state in one month in 1913. County Highway Superintendent Charles Mann today was prepared to issue flood warnings to residents in river bottom sections in the county. Reports were received that roads were blocked by high waters in the southwest section of the county, at Harding and Raymond streets, in Sunshine Gardens, at Shannon’s lake and Harding street south of Hanna avenue. Several bridges were threatened on small streams, and one minor bridge on Eighty-sixth street near the Springmill road was reported carried away. Bridges crossing White river within the county w’ere not threatened with collapse, Mann said.

GAS GO. WILL ELECT Kahn Named Vice-Chair-man of Concern Trustees. Directors of the Citizens Gas Company will meet Wednesday at the Columbia Club to elect officers of the board, according to Clarence L. Kirk, general manager. It was understood that present officers probably will be re-elected. They are: John R. Welch, president; Kirk, vice-president: G. A. Efroymson, treasurer, and F. R. Rastenberg, secretary. Henry Kahn was elected vicechairman of the gas trustees Monday, succeeding the late Lucius B. Swift. Thomas L. Sullivan Sr. is president. All directors were reelected.

There's Other Big News Today Congress gets busy on mammoth new prohibition program. Page 2. Cleveland ousts city manager. Page 2. Battleship still held important fighting arm for naval parley to discuss. Page 8. Robbers dynamite pay roll car. kill four. Page 8. Police and burglars battle to death in darkened corridor in Chicago. Page 8. Hoover cleared on any lobby connection in probe. Page 8. Mayor Raleigh Hale of East Chicago will go on stand in Calumet graft probe. Page 14. And all the other big daily features that make The Times the most interesting paper in Indianapolis.

STATE MENACED BY FLOOD

Routed From Homes by Torrent

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THIRST Indianapolis families forced from their homes today by rising w'aters were in the Mars Hill district, south of the airport. In the top photo Mrs. George Achenbach and son Eddie, 9, are being rowed to safety by Arlie Chamberlin, 31, a neighbor, artd Deputy Sheriff Ollie Mays. In the middle photo, Mrs. Albert Branum, with her children, Laura May, 7, and Dona Bell, 3, are being brought safely ashore. At the right, Sheriff George Winkler is directing the “debarkation" of another family, police assisting with their emergency boat. Below are presented the first photos from Vincennes. Ind., w’here a desperate fight is being waged against the Wabash river flood. Snapped from an airplane one picture depicts sweep of the swollen river under the bridge at Vincennes. The other photo shows sandbag levees erected along the George Rogers Clark Memorial boulevard.

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INDIANAPOLIS, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1930

Entered as Seeond-Clnss Matter at Foatoffiee. iDflianapolis

KNOX COUNTY RESIDENTS ARE WARNED AS WABASH MOUNTS; MAY HIT 26 FEET

Nation Is Hard Hit by Floods Bu United Press CHICAGO, Jan. 14.—Storms and floods lashed widely separated por- : tions of the nation today, carrying i the toll of death suffering and property damage to foreboding levels and threatening to assume disaster proportions in many places. The gravest menace was in the rearing waters of streams and rivers in the Mississippi valley tributary to the Mississippi. Swollen by heavy I and repeated rains and the run- ! away waters from snow-blanketed northern states, rivers flung levees i aside and poured over thousands of i acres of agricultural lands. Hun- ! dreds were homeless and being shel- | tered in communities above the j clutch of the flood. | The far west, from the Sierra Ne-adas to the Rocky mountains, was a desert of snow, heaped into deep drifts by blizzards and tenacious because of icy gales. Scores of persons were marooned and several vere lost in the storm-harassed ter- | ritory. Some sixty had been killed as a | result of the storm since it began j last week. Hope had waned for j Maury Graham, Western Air Express air mail pilot, un reported since he took off in a snow storm Friday from Les Vegas, Nev., on a flight to Salt Lake City, Utah. Search for him was being conducted both by ! air and land, with p’anes traversing • the chree usual air lanes between the two cities and ground parties toiling through drift-choked canyons. Southern Illinois, and Indiana, eastern Arkansas, Kentucky, western Tennessee and northern Mississippi were in the clutch of floods. Mort than 200 families in western Tennessee had fled before the rush of angry waters and 100 families between Cairo, 111., and Hickman Bluffs. Ky„ had been driven from the home in the lowlands. The worst flood crisis since the disaster of 1913 confronted Indiana. Thousands of dollars damage had resulted, suffering was widespread i and the worst was yet to come. Arkansas and Mississippi streams felt the touch of the descending torrent. If? Mississippi itself was rising slowly at Memphis, but had not caused serious concern. More rains were forecast for today along the lower reaches of the Ohio river, where more than ten inches had fallen recently. That burden, added to the swelling tide from melting snow’ farther up the valley, w’as expected to place the situation out of control. Ferry sendee betw’een Evansville, Ind., and Henderson. Kv., had been made virtually impossible by the rampaging river.

Indiana River Levels

WABASH Flood Stage. Level Today. Bluffton 11 1 3 - 6 Logansport 15 14.6 Lafayette 13 20.6 Covington 16 23.4 Terre Haute 16 Vincennes 14 23.4 Mt. Carmel 16 25.7 WHITE WEST FOUR Anderson 12 14.4 Noblesville 14 16 Indianapolis 18 16.6 Elliston 19 27.4 Edwardsport 15 20.3 EAST FORK Seymour 10 Shoals 20 32 MAES' STREAM Decker 18 25.8 LULL IN MENINGITIS No New Cases Are Reported Today. No new cases or additional deaths from spinal meningitis were reported to the city health authorities in the last twenty-four hours. Dr. Herman G. Morgan, city health commissioner, will speak before the Sherman-Emerson Civic League tonight on the origin and history of the malady. The, death of Jean Hamilton, 13, of West Delphi, was the first reported in Carroll county. The West Delphi school, which the child attended, has been closed indefinitely. Auto Crash Fatal GARY, Ind., Jan. 14.—An auto collision on the Industrial highway east of here claimed the life of Leslie Morgan, 3d Gflflb

Bu United Press VINCENNES, Ind., Jan. 14.—Residents throughout the southwestern portion of Knox county were requested to move to higher ground today upon word from the United States meteorological service at Terre Haute that the Wabash river would probably rise to 26 feet by Wednesday morning. Vincennes and the surrounding countryside were threatened with even worse devastation than occurred here in 1913. with no preparation to cope with such unprecedented water levels as those forecast. Half the city, and approximately half the county, would be under water at twenty-six feet, officials said. This would include much of the business section of Vincennes.

Approximately an inch of rainfall occurred along 1 the Wabash river as far north as Logansport Monday, Meteroologist Morey at Terre Haute reported to Vincennes officials in giving them the warning by telephone. Mayor J. W. Kimmcll issued the warning in the' city and county. At the same time, he appealed to all to contribute as liberally as possible to the Red Cross, in preparing for the tremendous task with which it appeared to be faced. Unless residents in the southwestern portion of the county move at once, they are likely to become Isolated, and many of them will be in grave danger, Mayor Kimmell said. Climbing Steadily Water in the Wabash river was climbing steadily again today and had gone above the twenty-three-foot level, after receding under relief from broken dikes farther north Monday night. It was expected to be at the 1913 level of twenty-four feet by late this afternoon. Observers doubted if the George Rogers Clark memorial highway concrete seawall would stand the pressure of the predicted rise. Its bulwark is all that holds the water from nearly half the city. Exceed 1913 Stage Damage from such a rise probably would exceed in total that of the appalling flood of 1913, and would leave thousands of persons in need, observers who went through the previous flood said. The White river at Hazelton and Decker was likewise rising steadily today. It stood at a record height of twenty-six feet at Decker, and scores of residents of that vicinity were forced from their homes. The river was rising at the rate of an inch an hour. Farther downstream in the Wabash the full fury ol the flood was expected to strike Wednesday. Flu United Prcsn The most devastating flood in history today threatened western and southern Indiana, with predictions that the high water mark of 1913, in which $50,000,000 was the estimated damage, would be exceeded by two feet at Vincennes. The Vincennes Red Cross committee met last night to prepare lines of defense should the levee go out and the town be submerged, besides taking steps to give relief to the dozens of families that have abandoned their homes in the north part of the city. The national guard was prepared for duty immediately should they be needed for patrol or relief work. A break in the Lyford levee, twenty miles north of Terre Haute, caused the river to drop two inches downstream as the waters rushed over 1.300 acres of land. Serious at Terre Haute Flood conditions appeared serious in the vicinity of Terre Haute today as the Wabash river rose .6 of a foot during the night after falling .3 of a foot when the Lyford levee above Terre Haute went out. Other dikes were weakening, highways inundated and thousands of acres were flooded. Many families living in Taylorville, on the west river bank and others in the north part of Terre Haute, were driven from their homes. The $73,000 Lyford levee was said to be destroyed. Hundreds of acres of rich farm lands were covered with water when it gave way, causing heavy damage to ungathered com crops. Trains Are Detoured Trains on the C. & E. I. railroad running between Terre Haute and Vincennes were still detouring today by way of Washington. At Washington the west fork of White river continued to mount with indications that it may reach anew flood stage. Fear of a levee break at near Elnora caused residents there to abandon their homes. A 300-foot section of the levee washed away Friday. The east fork of the river continued to rise in sections of Daviess county. Farmers near Petersburg reported that flood damage will be greater tbaa a 1813 as a large part oi the

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1929 corn crop Is still ungathered. Sixty families had left their homes near Shoals. The Ohio river was rising at Evansville with little hope seen for better conditions soon. Anderson reported the White river rising after further rains. Tractions Face Trouble The Union Traction Company reported trouble at Tipton and Marion because of water over the tracks. A bridge and school were closed in Shelby county because of high water. High water threatened the water works at Huntington, with one well under the flood waters. Hills of Gibson county offered refuge to rural residents today as the Wabash and White rivers inundated thousands of acres of farm lands. Farmers were reported abandoning their homes, taking families and livestock and fleeing to the hills. Winter quarters of the John Ringling circus at Peru were flooded with the rise of the MLssissinewa river to flood stage. Inter urban traffic east of Wabash was halted by water over the tracks. Passengers were taken to Wabash in busses. At Marion the Mississenewa river was 10.4 feet above the low water level and rising at the rate of an inch and a half an hour. Many families were forced to leave their homes when the water crept upward in the lowlands. City officials and the Red Cross were prepared for relief work if the mounting waters should cause greater damage and suffering. Flood conditions in Kosciusko and adjoining counties were nearly as serious as in 1913. The Tippecanoe river was far out of its banks and lakes in the region were five feet above the normal levels. Roads Are Impassable Expecting further rise of White river, water company officials at Bedford planned to remove one of the large motors In the pumping station, leaving only one to care for the water supply. The water was within two and one-half feet of reaching the pumps. All roads, except state Road 37 south, were impassable because of high water. Madison county wheat growers were alarmed over the condition of their wheat, pulled from the ground by melting sleet of last week. Freezing weather would kill the crop, farmers said. Ail river roads and ferries are out of use at Decker, and many families have moved to the hills. Boat service was established with Mt. Carmel, 111. Orville Hills, west of Decker, was cut off from all directions except by boats. Hogs Are Rescued Three hundred fifteen head of hoge were rescued from White river when rising waters surrounded them. They were carried off in wagons. The Henderson ferry at Evansville is expected to stop service after today. It was estimated that 10,000 acres were under water in Vanderburg county. Lafayette reported that serious flood conditions were unlikely, although the river was rising. Poland, Bowling Green and Clay City, Ky., have been cut off from Brazil with water over the roads. Early morning rains sent St. Mary and Wabash rivers still higher in Adams county. The town of Berne was under a foot of water. Schools were closed In the district because it was Impossible to reach the buildings. Families Homeless Twelve families living a mile east of Decatur in Belimonk Park were forced to leave their homes as the backwaters from St. Mary's rose. Both rivers were within a foot and a half of the 1913 high mark. Three-inch-an-hour rise of the Wildcat river flooded lowlands at Kokomo, and caused many calls for aid from terrorized residents in the southeast section of the city. Homes were threatened, telephone lines were down and sewers blocked by the water. Property damage was heavy’. Backwater from Pete’s Run branch of Kokomo creek marooned at least six families here, with water running through some of the houses. Residents called upon police for aid. Water still was rising and may necessitate removal of residents. Police are furnishing provisions to flood ~ •

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