Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1891 — DESTROYED BY A FLOOD. [ARTICLE]

DESTROYED BY A FLOOD.

One Hundred lowa Fam 11l e» Rendered Homeleaa. «> A dispatch from Cherokee, lowa, on th* 24th says; The terrors of the Johnstown flood were in part repeated in this piaci to-day. Seventy-five houses have been carried out of sight in the Niagara-lik« torrent. The number of lives lost is yet a matter of uncertainty. A terrific cloudburst. thrice repeated, and wind, almost a hurricane, are what consummated the dread work. The storm, which began last night, appears to have swept a vast circle of northwestern lowa, fully 100 miles in diameter, with Cherokee as the center. Most of the destruction in Cherokee wa wrought by the extraordinary rise in the Sioux river, resulting from the tremendous down-pour if water. Some idea of the Immensity and suddenness of the flood may be inferred from the fact that it carpied off, apparently without an effort, the big truss-bridge upon which the Illinois Central Railroad crossed the river, and with the bridge went 400 feet of trestle on which the company's tracks approached the river. To-night the Little Sioux is at thehighcst stage ever known. The havoc both to roadway and bridges is something seldom paralied in railroad history. Eight lives are reported lost near Waterloo. ' At Lemars, Floyd river is a mile wide. Bridges arc out on the railroads. All trains are abandoned. The Omaha paycar has the only engine available for work. • At Sutherland it is reported that fifteen houses are-swept away. It is still raining and the streams are getting higher. A dispatch from Sioux City says: The terrible rains of Wednesday night havealmost devastated this portion of lowa. N& roadsarerwmingtrainsfromthisetty east. Floyd river valley is inundated for thirty-five miles north of this city. The towns of Merrill, Hinton, Lemars and James are completely submerged. Thirtyfive miles of track on each of the Illinois Central, Chicago, St Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha and Sioux City & Pacific are flooded north of this city, with bad washouts at Lemars. On the Central lowa branch of the Illinois Central nine hundred feet of tract was carried out. On the Centra' Sioux Falls branch, seven bridges were washed out. The Chicago & Northwestern tracks in the Sioux valley are out for over a half mile at Sutherland. The same road is also washed out atr Carroll. At Merrill, eight miles from the city, the, Floyd river rose fifteen feet in three hours and the flood was sweeping through the Floyd river valley toward this city and devasting hundreds of acres of crops. Later—A courier from Cherokee announces that the first dispatches sent out from that point do not begin to give a proper idea of the awful damage done by the storm and flood that set in Tuesday night and had only partially subsided bysunset Thursday evening. It had been storming all day Tuesday, the rain being driven through the streets in blinding sheets. But this alone would not have resulted in such a disastrous flood. Storms have been common there, and the Sioux has frequently overrun Its banks. The river rose steadily during the day and toward night caused some apprehension? Shortly after dark, however, the storm seemed to be increasing in fury and the inhabitants gathered to watch the terrible down-pour. Collars were alreadycovered with water In the flat districtSuddenly It seemed as if a veritable reservoir in the sky had broken its walls and was pouring its resistless waters on the city. It was more than a rain; it was a river from the clouds, and it fell with crushing violence ■on the roofs—of stores and dwellings. Lights across the street could not be distinguished through the almost solid bank or sheet of rain. lu a few minutes—noone thought to time it—the very streets had been converted into swollen channels that shortly rose above the curbs and rushed into stores -and houses. None could venture out in such a storm, and no one dared save those in the bottoms, who, rather than be floated away in their frame houses, risked their lives climbing through the torrent to higher ground It was estimated that the Sioux river rose ten feet in about fifteen minutes, shortly after 10 o’clock. Then the great truss railroad bridge, with its 190 feet ol spans and over 44X) feet of trestle work, gave way and sank in the roaring with a noise that was heard in the city above the storm. Every one knew what had occurred, and all realized that outside help was then cut off. It now appears that over one hundred dwelling house! soon followed the bridge down the stream. The cloud-burst was soon over, but th« rain fell until late in the afternoon. Today probably 1,500 people have re. ported themselves as being without home, shelter or household goods. Damages in this town alone are placed ats3oo,000, outside of that to railroad property The Sioux is still raging, and its middlt current is full of floating farmers’ outhouses, wheat stack;, wagons' 1 pig pens with now and then a barn or a hut o' more pretentions. For miles up and down the valley the story wifi be the same. Four deaths were at first butmany persons are missing, and it is impossible to give the exact loss of life. Everything is in confusion, and the 'people are panic-stricken. The railroad bridge is lodged a half mile down the river, A later dispatch says: An Illinois Central work train has succeeded in reaching .a point about one mile east of Cherokee, and further progress is barred by a vast expanse of water stretching as far as the eye can reach. It is feared there will be added to the present sufferings of citizens the pangs of hunger. All the surplus stock of provisions was destroyed by the flood, and the town is now as effectually isolated from the rest of the world as though no railroads were in existence. The wagon roads are all impassable in the valley, and no prospect is seen of reachin; the people from any direction until th water subsides. ' ' ' ■»* ■ J '■