RECORD FLOOD DESOLATE CEREDO, KENOVA AND WESTMORELAND

Termed the worst disaster ever to be inflicted upon that section, a record-breaking flood is sweeping through the nearby Ohio river valley.

Entire towns are virtually covered with flood waters, which have wrought damage impossible to estimate and desolation difficult to describe.

The flood at Huntington, Westmoreland, Ceredo, and Kenova is now in its ninth day but the crest has finally been reached and the river has started falling. This definite information, announced Wednesday, was the first cheerful word received by the flood-besieged residents for more than a week. The decline, however, will be a slow process estimated to require about a week.

The river was stationary from eleven o'clock Wednesday morning until five o'clock Thursday morning, when it started falling. By eight o'clock that morning it had receded .68 of a foot. The rate of fall is expected to increase today.

At its crest, reached Wednesday, the Ohio river was more than 17 feet above flood stage at Lock 28 apposite Westmoreland. The reading was 67.03 feet there and 69.01 at the foot of tenth street, Huntington.

The present flood is more thar two feet above the stage reached in 1913. Although statistics show the 1913 stage was 68 feet, markings made in concrete at Westmoreland showing the extent of the flood then have been covered by more than two feet of water in the present flood.

Desolate as present scenes are, even worse conditions will be revealed when the flood waters recede.

Westmoreland, Ceredo and Kenova were hit harder than Huntington by the flood. Not more than a third of the normal population of Ceredo and Kenova were in the towns Tuesday night. Residents were taken to Wayne, Williamson, Charleston and Bluefield. The towns were in a desperate plight with the gas and water systems being out of commission. The food supply has been adequate so far but more boats are needed.

More than half of Kenova is under water.

Every home in Ceredo is flooded with one single exception, that being the brick home of W. A. Ramsdell.

A few homes on Piedmont road were the only ones to escape the flood waters at Westmoreland, it was reported here Wednesday by Jack Osburn.

Business is at a standstill as all available man power has been mobilized for flood relief work.

Some citizens who continued to reside in their flooded homes were ordered to evacuate them because of the danger from houses and other large objects floating down the river.

Hundreds of homes in the flooded section have shifted from their foundations. Some have turned over. Others have floated considerable distances and lodged against more substantial structures. Automobiles which owners had driven to what they thought were places of safety beyond the reach of the river are submerged to their tops in numbers impossible to estimate.

Col. W. T. Lovins, well known Wayne county man but now of Huntington, took an important part in relief activities there as chairman of the flood relief organization. During the height of the flood he made a trip from Huntington to Kenova on a coast guard cutter and found scenes of utter desolation and despair all along the way. He was accompanied by Col. P. D. Shingleton, head of the state police, and coast guardsmen.

Every other house or so had men, women and children, cats and dogs huddled together on second and third floors, and many of them refused to leave their homes even under such threatening conditions as that in which they were living.

In some sections of the towns the water is of such height that those in the boat found it necessary to crouch low to avoid being struck by trolley wires and other overhead obstructions.

After the trip Col. Shingleton said he was horror-stricken at the sights he witnessed. "The most horrible thing I have ever locked upon in my whole life," was his reaction.

Hundreds of Kenova flood refugees have been evacuated en masse. Relief centers were established in the Knights of Pythias hall and other places and all of them are filled with men, women and children. Officials said conditions were as satisfactory as could be expected. Kenova's water simply was turned off Monday morning when the river floated several houses in the residential section, thereby breaking the water mains in several places. Barrels of water were placed throughout the town and a preparation to purify the water was being used. Mayor J. T. Hereford, Jr., said that wells owned by the Kenova Hardwood and Flooring company and the Breece Veneer company were furnishing the drinking water. The work of transporting refugees to relief headquarters was aided by the arrival of a coast guard cutter, four state troopers and a smoothly working organization which kept boats stationed at each intersection in the flood area.

The furniture in many homes has been damaged or destroyed entirely. These include pianos, refrigerators and other heavy objects which could not be moved because of a lack of man power. In some instances furniture was placed where the owners thought they would be safe from the flood but were subsequently covered because of continued rises in the river.

A large portion of the Huntington business district is under water. The flood crept over Fourth avenue, in the heart of the business district and was threatening to invade Fifth avenue at Tenth street when the river became stationary. The eastern and western ends of Fifth avenue were covered with several feet of water.

Many Huntington stores were protected from the water by barricades consisting of boards caulked with tar and supported by sand bags. This method of keeping out water was successful on the whole, but in many instances the flood exceeded the height of the barricades and water flowed over the top of them into business buildings. Some barricades were broken through by the terrific force of the water. It was reported here that the basements of some business buildings had also caved in.

Nearly all merchants of Huntington had moved their stocks to upper stories in time to save them from damage. Windows in many business buildings were broken.

Huntington has been an island for several days. The railroad underpasses to the south side have been blocked by water backing up through sewers. The Wayne roads at the Huntington city limits are also covered with several feet of water backed up in Fourpole creek. This week, however, it has been possible to reach Huntington from here by traveling over a dirt road through Booton and Bowen and connecting with Sixteenth street road, a route muddy in spots but passable.

Utility services, including lights, gas and telephone, have been maintained in those parts of Huntington not coverred by water and this has served to reduce the suffering.

Only one drowning has resulted there.

River readings opposite Westmoreland during past floods include the following:

February 17, 1832 61.8

December 18, 1847 61.1

February 12, 1884 66.3

January 20, 1907 61.0

March 31, 1913 * 68.0

March 1936 56.85

*Residents of Westmoreland, however, challenge this reading which indicates that the 1913 flood exceeded the present reading of 67.03. Many old timers in that section made markings in the concrete sidewalk indicating the highest point of the 1913 flood and report that these markings are covered with two feet or more of water at the present time.

Many heroic deeds have been reported involving risk of life in rescuing trapped persons from the flood. At Russell, Ky., two boys were rescued from the top of a house floating down the surging Ohio river. It was also reported here that boatmen chopped thru the roof of a house floating down the river at Kenova and rescued some children who were huddled in the attic for safety.

A further description of the extent of the flood in Kenova was obtained from J. G. Lambert, county clerk, when he arrived here Wednesday. He estimated that 500 of the 700 homes in Kenova are flooded. Mr. Lambert said the homes of the following areas were safe: On upper side of Chestnut street from 21st to 11th street and on the lower side from 21st to 15th street; on Poplar street, upper side, from 17th to 21st and lower side, 19th to 21st; on Pine street, from 20th to 12th and from 11th to 9th; and a few homes on Maple street. All other sections are flooded and it is the first time that all of Oak, Walnut and Beech streets have been covered by flood waters, Mr. Lambert said.

Mr. Lambert denied that gas service had been interrupted in Kenova. All homes in dry territory, extending west from 13th street, are still being supplied with gas, he said.

Other Flood Scenes

At Louisville, Ky., more than 200 deaths have occurred, all attributed to the flood, and twenty bodies were found floating in the water there. It is estimated more than 300,000 are homeless in Kentucky. Catlettsburg and Ashland are suffering their worst floods in history.

For the first time in 24 years flood waters invaded Portsmouth, Ohio. Conditions there are horrible.

The total made homeless in the entire Ohio river valley is estimated to be about 700,000. States affected are West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennslyvania, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas. The flood is raging into the Mississippi river.

Persons coming from Ceredo Wayne to by train described the horrible scene of desolation at Brownstown, Ceredo suburb. Many houses are turned over on their sides ald twisted out of shape, and some are anchored to trees by ropes tied to the roofs of the houses to keep them from floating away.

The Baptist church on Buffalo is also flooded it was reported.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

(WCN - 2/19/1937) Fort Gay To Hold Second Election On Improvement