THE FLOOD IN NEW YORK
HUNDREDS OF HOMES IN BUFFALO FLOODED--THE PLIGHT OF
ROCHESTER--VALLEY OF THE GENESEE PARALYZED--DRIVEN FROM HOMES AT
OLEAN--WORST FLOOD IN HISTORY OF HORNELL--LAKE COUNTRY PARALYZED
WITH FEAR--WATER COVERS PART OF BINGHAMTON--GLENS FALLS BRIDGE
DOWN--DISTRESS IN FORT EDWARD--BIG PAPER COMPANY IN TROUBLE--HOMES
ABANDONED IN SCHENECTADY--HIGH WATERS IN TROY--WATERVLIET
FLOODED--ALBANY IN THE GRIP OF THE FLOOD.
A tremendous downfall of rain, March 24th and 25th, developed some of
the worst floods known in fifty years. Vast areas of New York were under
water and hundreds of homes were swept away.
On the night of March 25th the entire area of South Buffalo was under
water, street car traffic was suspended and rowboats were plying the
streets.
The Buffalo River and Cazenovia Creek had both overflowed their banks
with a rush at ten o'clock in the morning, and the dwellers in the South
Park section of the city had no chance to escape.
Hundreds of homes were soon flooded. Firemen were sent out in boats to
rescue those who desired to leave. Hundreds of workers were marooned in
distant parts of the city, unable to reach their homes.
Within the city limits of Buffalo big manufacturing plants suffered
$150,000 of damage. Many big oil tanks were overturned and crashed
against buildings. Train service throughout the city was practically at
a standstill, and miles of track east and south of the city were washed
away. The main line of the Erie Railroad, between Buffalo and New York
City, was washed out in many places.
THE PLIGHT OF ROCHESTER
Not since 1865, when Rochester, then a city of 50,000, suffered immense
damage by floods, has the city faced such a serious situation as it did
on the night of Friday, March 28th. Half the business section was under
water, which in some sections was five feet deep.
Water commenced to pour into Front, Mill and Andrew Streets early
Thursday evening, and all through the night merchants worked to get
their goods to higher ground. The big warehouse of the Graves Furniture
Company in Mill Street was flooded so quickly that thousands of dollars
damage was done to the goods. The following morning it was impossible to
get through these streets except in boats and rafts, and the work of
salvage was continued in this way.
The newspaper offices of the _Post Express and Democrat_ and the
_Chronicle_ had their basements flooded and the presses put out of
commission. The Pennsylvania line into Rochester, which uses the bed of
the old Genesee Canal, was put out of commission. The Erie and Lehigh
Valley lines to villages to the south were blocked by the floods for
several days.
The only fatality of the flood occurred at six o'clock Sunday evening,
when a boy who was paddling over the flooded meadow of the Genesee
Valley Park was carried out into the river. The canoe was swept over the
dam at Court Street.
VALLEY OF THE GENESEE PARALYZED
The whole valley of the Genesee was more or less paralyzed. As early as
Wednesday the villages of Mount Morris and Dansville, in the Genesee
River Valley, were under several feet of water, and the terrified folk
who lived in the lowlands were hurrying to places of safety, abandoning
their homes.
Commerce was soon at a standstill, and conditions continued to grow more
serious. They were in some localities worse than at any time since 1865.
The washing out of bridges and the flooding of roads practically cut the
villages off from the outside world.
DRIVEN FROM HOMES AT OLEAN
One thousand persons were driven from their homes at Olean by the high
waters of the Canisteo and Hornell. John Cook was drowned while
attempting to rescue others.
Four oil tanks were floating about the city of Olean, and the coating of
oil on the water made the danger from fire serious. The water was from
three to ten feet deep.
[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Showing what was once the town of Lower Peachtree. The six X's denote
the places where houses stood before the tornado, in the heart of the
main residential streets]
[Illustration: Copyright by International News Service.
One of the victims of the tornado at Omaha was picked up by the tornado
and his corpse left suspended in the broken and twisted limbs of a
tree]
WORST FLOOD IN HISTORY OF HORNELL
Following thirty hours of continued rain, Hornell, a small city in
Steuben County, suffered the worst flood in its history. It swept down
the Canisteo Valley, completely inundating the greater portion of the
city of Hornell and half a dozen villages within a radius of ten miles.
A thousand homes were flooded.
The Canisteo Valley for a distance of forty miles was under water, and
the situation was appalling. Roads were washed out, bridges gone and
much property destroyed. The fire in every furnace in the flood district
was out, and suffering was acute.
LAKE COUNTRY PARALYZED WITH FEAR
The lake region in the central western part of the state suffered
heavily from floods. The villages of Marcellus, Camillus and Marietta,
west of Syracuse, were threatened with extinction. The earthen bank,
which adjoins the huge dam of Otisco Lake, weakened and, it was feared
that if the flood conditions did not improve the bank would give way.
Auburn was seriously threatened by the rising of Owasco Lake. The dam
furnishing power to the Dunn and McCarthy shoe shops broke in the center
and it was feared the rest of the structure would go down. Pumps were at
work continuously in the Auburn water works at Owasco Lake to keep the
engine and boiler pits free of water.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad along Cayuga Lake, between Auburn and Ithaca,
was under water for a distance of nine miles south of Kings Ferry. No
trains were running on that branch. A small bridge at Farley's Point,
near the lower end of Cayuga Lake, was washed away. An avalanche of mud
and stones buried the railroad tracks near Kings Ferry.
The incessant rains of two days raised the little creeks in the vicinity
of Interlaken to torrents. Many bridges were washed out.
Canandaigua Lake reached its highest level in sixteen years. Streets in
Canandaigua were flooded.
Floods due to breaks and overflows in the Erie Canal at Waterloo, Seneca
Falls, Port Bryon and elsewhere, caused thousands of dollars loss. The
Seneca River was over its banks.
WATER COVERS PART OF BINGHAMTON
At Binghamton, on the Susquehanna River, water covered the entire
northwestern residence section of the city. All the manufacturing
establishments along the river banks were closed.
Boats were forced into use in the residence districts and the Fire
Department, with three steamers, endeavored to keep down the water in
the basements in the business section.
GLENS FALLS BRIDGE DOWN
But more serious than the conditions anywhere else in New York were
those along the Hudson River Valley. Damage estimated at not less than
$300,000 was caused by high water near Glens Falls, resulting from heavy
rains, which fell for nearly a week.
The steel suspension bridge, two hundred feet in length, across the
Hudson between the city and South Glens Falls was destroyed. All records
for high water were broken, the bridge being carried out after the steel
supports underneath had been constantly pounded for hours by logs dashed
against them by the raging waters.
At Hadley, one of the plants of the Union Bag and Paper Company was
completely flooded, and water was pouring from every window. It was
feared that the structure might be destroyed. All paper mills in the
section were closed down.
DISTRESS IN FORT EDWARD
At Fort Edward village $50,000 damage was done. About one hundred
families were driven from their homes to seek shelter in higher parts of
the village. Many parts of the village were submerged and in the main
business section five feet of water filled the cellars on the river side
of the street. The water had reached the windows of the first stories of
many houses in the lower sections. Trains of loaded coal cars were used
to hold down the monster railroad bridge of the Delaware and Hudson
Company at this village while big jams of logs threatened to carry it
out.
BIG PAPER COMPANY IN TROUBLE
At least 150 feet of the big dam of the International Paper Company at
Corinth was carried out and the mill partly flooded. A small part of the
same company's dam at Fort Edward was also carried out. The
International was one of the heaviest losers.
HOMES ABANDONED IN SCHENECTADY
At Schenectady, just west of the Hudson on the Mohawk, houses on
twenty-five streets were abandoned by their occupants. The entire lower
section of the city was submerged.
The whole Mohawk Valley was swept by the worst flood in its history.
The Groff dam near Herkimer broke and several houses were carried away.
A dam at Canajoharie threatened to go out. Three great canal gates at
Fort Plain were swept away. The Amsterdam reservoir, which covers 680
acres, was weakened and a patrol was stationed there.
HIGH WATERS IN TROY
So great was the flood in Troy, on the Hudson below the entrance of the
Mohawk, that martial law was practically declared. Members of two
military companies patrolled the streets, relieving the tired firemen
and police, many of whom had been on continuous duty for forty-eight
hours. Mayor Burns did not sleep for two nights, taking charge in person
of the Public Safety Department.
Fires added to the seriousness of the flood situation and firemen were
kept busy all day answering alarms in the flooded district. Damage
estimated at thousands of dollars was done by the fire.
For the first time in the history of Troy the newspapers, with one
exception, were unable to go to press. One publication printed a
four-page pamphlet on a hand press. Another was printed in Albany.
Hundreds of families were rendered homeless, and relief stations in
various parts of the city were filled with refugees. The city faced an
epidemic of typhoid, and every effort was made to guard against it.
WATERVLIET FLOODED
In Watervliet the water in many places measured ten feet deep and the
police station and post-office were flooded. One-third of Green Island
was submerged. In Rensselaer, across the river from Albany, much damage
and suffering were caused.
The losses of logs in the regions to the north amounted to many
thousands of dollars and the damage in the lumber district of Albany was
heavy.
ALBANY IN THE GRIP OF THE FLOOD
On March 27th the river at Albany was seventeen feet above normal and
was still rising. The power plants were put out of commission, street
car traffic practically suspended and schools and factories closed. The
city's filtration plant was threatened. The south end of the city was
under water.
Railroad service was crippled, mails delayed and telegraph and telephone
service hampered. There was much damage to property, but no loss of
life.
The damage in Albany was estimated at $1,000,000. Governor Sulzer was
informed that about $3,500,000 will be necessary to repair the
embankments along the old and the new barge canal locks and dams.