LTRIOt HAS
THE Ti
>E
Rei
ft
Dami
roari
km
Four Stkt«
^ '-i
c-
rbfthC>rottai|,^g
AfllMTlU*.—ItemiMtglnK rlTen
VTOQfbt and destrooUon
Wedn«eUy t n fonr southern
SUtM.
Ahnormally heavy rainfall In
th» irake of a hnrrioa&e that
battered the South CaroMaa-Geor-
i.V«,gla coast Sunday sent the swift
^ streams swirling out of their
banks washing out highways and
bridges, destroying lowland crops
and'causing milUons of dollar*
di^^itie-'to indatftrlal vlhnts a-
lohg their hanks, and driving
hundreds \>f persons from their
)lA'least 1(,deaths were at-
'•to the floods.
North Carolina counted two
Irownings and two deaths in
[landslides. Three drownings were
’ reported near Galax, Va., three
near Elisabethton, Tenn., and
three near Augusta. Sa. A negro
woman near Aoigusta died of a
heart attack when she learned
that the flood waters were ap
proaching her home.
A 10-fo6t washout , of Ashe-
..•vine’s principal water main
l^fofcod this tourists’ mecca of 51,-
OOJ^ use sparingly from a single
rtSMr'’oir. Officials expressed ' on-
tidfince that the line could be re-
by tomorrow and that the
voir wonild provide sufficient
until then.
Witnesses said the raging tor
rents In some places picked np
batldiugs and tossed them about
like matchboxes In a gutter. Hun
dred? of bridges were swept a-
way.
Galax, in the sputhwest corner
of Virginia, was isolated last
night, and about 700 were report
ed to have fled their homes. Wat
er rose to the second story of
many houses.
The Watauga river engplfed a
residential district of Elizabeth-
ton where 200 to :;uo persons
lived, forcing them to clamber
to near-by hills, rooftops, and tall
i trees for refuge.
jXXXIII, No. 48 Peblishetf Hondar* Wd^l^rsda^pi. ^ NORTH WILEESgORO*
194011.60 IN TBS STATS—12.00 OUT OF TBS STATS ^
ta
rf-
•V
I^nber Homeless and Jobless
Lom of an undeflermined number of lives and prt^erty
damage conservatively estimated at approsimately $5,*
000,000 resulted Tuesday night and W^nesday from the
most disastrous flood on the Yadkin in the history of
Wflkes county.
The raging torrent of the muddy Yadkin rose to unpre
cedented heights three to five feet higher' than the high
mark of the disastrous flood of July 15, 1916.
Fire, adding to the distruction of the flood waters, wip>
ed out Home Chair company and the Intematipnal Shoe
company tannery, two of the largest indurtrial planta
here.
mm
Not To
August 26
se of Flood
The scene shows the smoulderinif ruins of Home Chair
company’s factory surrounded by the waters of the
ed a crest about four feet
trous flood of 1916. (Stal
flooded Yadkin Tue.-’dav miming as ttie .stream reach-
Fills Out On
Ml School Bus
In County
Survey Reveals
Homes Destroyed
re j^ki: 29|
’ilkes county sup-
chools, said to-
g of the schools
ugTist 26 th as
mpossfble due to
roa4s and bridg-
ool opening will
Whites and 16 Col-,
Families In This
y Lose Homes
'jJ’ "-ti.
A preliminary check of homes ^
destroyed by the flood In North
Wllkesboro, made by Police Chief
I' J. E. Walker, listed 29. of which
13 were occupied by whites and
16.^^1ored. |
tUfe destroyed homes among ,
the white population were J. D. |
Shafer. John Church, Maude j
Pa-rifpr Will Brown, Alber' i’ai- |
soSt^John Laws. Lonnie CL arch.
Umina Rhoades. Russel Prevette. ]
Floyd- Shepherd. .Mon Shirmate,
John Porter, George Byrd.
! The colored were Bernice Hall.
■ Ruby nowell. Helen Tidline, Lou
iTidline. Rufus Phifer. Babe
J Thomas, Ralph Barnes. Gay Da-
I vis. Carl Harris, Ruby Wood.
Rhoda Reeves, Reginald Cundiff.
Luck Williams. Lola Triplett and
Tom Carlton.
or tills out
tie delayed.
. With bridges
Late today the knoAvn dead
as the result of the flood in
the county and nearby had
increased to five. Miss Oy»-
line Smith, of Angler,. N.
was drowned near Cuh
bridge east of Wilkesboro
when the car in which she
and her escort, Wade Gilbert,
also of Angier, were riding
stalled in the flood waters.
Gilbert was rescued and Miss
Smith’s body was taken from
the water several hours later.
The body of Zeb Green, pf
Stony Fork, was found al)out
one mile from the flood dev^
astated village of Fertruson
late Wednesday. Andy Green,
also of Stony Fork, was re
ported drowned and his
children missing. His wife
on tills a»ek haidc
com- Green children were
ptrte choclmK today was Imposs-^ gt Deep Gapt
ible. '
Supt. Eller, who said more de
tailed anjiouncemeritB would be
made later, stated that some, of
the smaller schools and possibly
some of the larger ones may be
able to open on September 2, one
week later than was originally
planned.
t! .'•>1
i.:
'FewH^hwaysAnd
Roads Passable
Ffdlowing Flood
Physicians Warn
Of The Danger Of
Typhoid Epidemic
Be Vaccinated Immediately
And Boil All Drinking
Water Is Warning
Bridges Out, Fills Washed
Lamdslides Isolate
Many Communities
Taken from a plane by a Winston-Salem Journal
photographer, this scene shows the disastrous fire
ivhich destroyed International Shoe Company's big tan
nery plant in the midst of the Yadkin flood here Wed
nesday.
Only four highways out of the
IWilkesboros were open to travel
(tod^ and highway official?, be-
Igan a hasty inspection of havoc
i-WTonght by the disastrous floods
ITueatey night and Wednesday.
I toward Win-
WfomSalem, Highway 18 west to-
[Warrf Lenoir and North to Sparta
land highway 16 south to Taylors-
IvlUe were open.
Highway 421 west to Boone.
16 to West Jefferson, 268 east to
Slkin and west toward Lenoir,
land highway 115 south toward
iStatanille were all tiosed today
H)ecainae of bridge# being out,
washed away and landslides,
county roads were
en because bridgee and fills
been washed away.
■The onl.v Tadkln ‘bridge stand-
ig In WlilteS today was the con-
6e bridge between the Wllkes-
.TUe other Yadkin Bridges,
ag the lower bridge at
ruif^liy, were completely de-
Wilkes county health depart
ment and the Wilkes Medical
Society today Issued a stern
warning to the population of
this flood stricken area relative
to the danger of^ typhoid fevef.
The grave danger now Is due
to pollution of water supply by
flood water and the health offi
cials emphatically ask that ALL
WATER BE BOILED BEFORE
DRINKING.
Everyone who has not been
vaccinated against typhoid du.
Ing the past two years shoui i o
immunized immediately. Vnca:ta„
tlon may be obtained from the
health office or any physician.
A nurse from the county health
department will be stationed at
the city Isnll here lor the purpose
of administering vaccinations.
t. , , -
V- '
. % re -yvs* ,0 /A
’j'.V.' -J!*
' ii
Coroner Myers
Hiikes Statement
About Drownings
Sajs Bodies Found May Bo
Brouidst In To North
Wltkesboro" At Once
Alt bridgee were reported out
Ifin Elk Creek and Stony Fork,
dee nnd washouts closed hlgh-
421 In the western part of
^ county and extensive damage
done to the highway by
^ Fork Crert at several plac-
(Ceattnaed ea page dgU)
This aer^l view taken
the Yadkin had receded
bridge between 'ibe'
5;
Wednesday afternoon when
enough for tratCfic to cross
iilkesboros was.typical d|
V • ' .• ‘‘Av' '' at'
f-S'-.-N'i'-t'
flood scenes along the Yadkin Wednesday
' (Winstod^lem Journal photo.)
V- • * - ■ — ' ’ ^
'■-Sliest-'-,
Coroner I. M. Myers today stat
ed that any drowned bodies found
along the streams In Wilkes msy
be brought l£medlately into
North .Wilkeeboro and without
the usoal drfay and tIbU by the
coroner. ''
lA ordmr to expedite mattere,
be said that any tareadgatton of
deaths necessary would be made
when bodies are brought Into this
cKy and that be,i.woald.\ make
no chants to the county for the
iavwdigaUons of signing of death
oertlficatee. Any esslstaaoe- ethieh
the coroner’s office can cfvp:WUl
‘be gfe^ly ^der^r be saldLi,'" ...
Meanwhile unconfirmed reports
came in today from the Stony
Fork section to the effect that at
least ten people along the creek
I were missing yesterday. Due to
bridges .being washed out, that
section of the county was com
pletely isolated today.
North Wilkesboro was hit
hardest by flood and fire of any
town In the four states visited
by the floods Tuesday night and
Wednesday, accordin.g to wide
spread reports.
In addition to the total de-
.struction of the plants of Home
Chair company and the Tannery,
many other industries were hard
hit and 19 homes in North WII-
kesboro were destroyed.
Extensive damage running in
to many thousands of dollars wa»
done to American Furniture com
pany, which was partially sub
merged at the height of the flood.
The loss there Included five car
loads of furniture ready to go
out, vast amounts of materials in
the process of manufacture and
extensive damage to the plant’*
equipment and machinery. Simi
lar loss occured at the Oak Fur
niture company’s plant and vast
amounts of lumber on the yards
at both places floated down the
Yadkin.
VaUkesburo Manufacturing com-
-• Cardwell Lumber company
P. t. Brown all lost great
amounts of lumbers from the
ards while plants were partially
ubmerged and badly damaged.
Wilkes Milling company plant
/as partially Inundated and much
rain, flour and feeds were de-
troyed.
^ood waters which reached
he lower departments of tha
ilants of Meadowrs Mill Company
nd the Carolina Mirror corpor*-
tion did extensive damage.
Forester’s Nu-Wiay Service sta
tion was completely devastated,
along with hnge stock of gasolln#
and oils. Only a tew animals of
the too were saved.
The plants and storage tanks
of Standard Oil company and
Sinclair Refining company were
wiped out. The Onlf and Texma
cosnpany plants were badly dassy
agbd.
Forest FuraKure company re
ported only mlne6 damage at th«
plant but lisrii of finished fornl-
tnre rtady to*'leave the imrds ver«
destroyed.
ExCrtiaiTe damage was done ti>
the North Wllkeshdie tea and
Fuel company plant. -**
The Northwestern Fairgmanda
were
inclu4
clean of ,■ balldthigst,
Ithe grandstand.'
oBal Qaahd'
bands, a iMifAl