People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1893 — OUT OF THEIR BANKS. [ARTICLE]

OUT OF THEIR BANKS.

Pennsylvania Towns Suffer Mach from aa Overflow of Several Rivera. Pittsburgh, Pa., Feh. 8. —The flood ; that threatened disaster to Pittaburgh and Allegheny has, it is ■ thought, been checked by the cold weather, and the worst is believed to . be over. The sadden rise in the Monon- j gahela and Allegbena rivers was unex- I pected, and when it was announced ' Tuesday morning that a volume oi water that would inundate the low- ; lands was on its way here there was j consternation among the residents of j the flats and the merchants and manufacturers doing business on the banks of the two streams. Preparations were at once made to remove goods from the lower floors, and many residents hastily left their houses for safer quarters. At 10 o’clock in the morning the water touched the 18-foot mark and all day kept creeping steadily up the gauge until at midnight the marks showed 25 feet The rivers were still rising, but from 6 inches .of a rise an hour they had dropped to less than 3 inches, and it was confidently expected that a few hours more would again see the water falling. The stage reached was 2 feet above the danger line, and the result was that the lower parts of Allegheny and the south side were submerged and the merchants and manufacturers on the j-iver fronts were greatly inconvenienced by the flooding of their cellars. The damage, as far as known, is not large, but the poor people, who were forced to leave their homes, suffer greatly from the cold. The high water seriously affected the railroads and nearly all through trains were delayed. The famous Conemaugh is swollen so that it has broken over its embankments in several places, causing fear and consternation among many who have residences along the stream. From Conemaugh down it has spread once more through the valley, and if the cold *weather does not check it serious damage may be expected at Johnstown. Turtle creek is also a raging torrent, and is causing inconvenience to residents along the Pennsylvania at that point. The Lake Shore line has been compelled to transfer mail and express matter to other lines. Over 30 miles of telegraph lines on the Franklin division of the Lake Shore road, east of Youngstown, was destroyed by last night’s storm, many of the poles being washed awaj- by the torrent of water. At Wampum the ice is piled 40 feet high on the railroad. The telegraph lines are in bad shape along the Lake Erie road and the F. & A. division of the Pennsylvania road. All the factories along the river bank at Beaver Falls are driven by water power and they have been compelled to shut down for the first time since the high waters of 1884. Dispatches from various points throughout the western end of the state indicate a serious condition of affairs. At Oil City, Parker’s Warren and Freeport, on the Allegheny, the flats are submerged and the water is still rising. Many people have been compelled to move out of their houses. At Greenville the prospects are that great damage will be done by the high water. Immense ice gorges at different points below the town have backed up the water so that the lower sections are already inundated and many families were moving out in boats before nightfall. The exodus is going on, as the water creeps up into places that have been dry for years. At New Castle an immense ice gorge that had formed above the city broke and water and ice came down in a body 8 feet high, completely flooding the lower part of the city. Several houses were swept away and many families were taken from their homes in boats. All cellars under business blocks were flooded, and the damage will amount to thousands of dollars. At Franklin a gorge in French creek broke and carried away a number of county bridges. Buffalo, N. Y., Feb. B.—There is a big flood in South Buffalo, caused by the overflow of the creeks. Water covers the laDds and streets to the depth of 2 and 3 feet. The Seneca street cars were forced to stop Tuesday afternoon. All the region between Buffalo and Cazeuovia creeks is more or less flooded. Sydney, Feb. B.— The city of Brisbane, in Queensland, continues to be completely isolated by the floods. In the region about Widebay, Queensland, hundreds of houses have been demolished by the rushing waters and thousands of destitute people have taken refuge in the hills, without shelter and destitute of nearly all necessaries. At Brisbane business is completely suspended. It is reported that several mines at Gympie, in the Widebay district, are inundated, and that great been done to mining operations. The water is 30 feet deep in Brisbane and in the suburbs has covered buildings 60 feet high. Five hundred houses .have been demolished. Hundreds <}f families have lost their homes and have left the city in boats to seek shelter on higher ground. All the gas and water pipes have been destroyed and the city is in darkness. The governor came to the city in a boat. He says that all the towns between Brisbane and Ipswich are submerged. This is the greatest disaster in the history of the colony.