Salt Lake Telegram | 1936-05-01 | Page 1 | Six Families Missing in Flood

FAMILIES PISSING MISSING IN FLOOD 1 Sha Shattered Damen Dam J i S Sends ends en S Torrent Into Lowland f ft t M Motorist forist Trapped Feared Dead on Bridge as High Water Blocks Efforts of J v Three Boys to Save Him ri t I J S B By Associated Press ELK CITY Okla Okia May 1 One 1 One man was b believed liev v dr drowned WIled five live persons were injured six farm families were unaccounted for and Elk City counted flood losses in thousands thou thou- sands of dollars tod today y in fn the wake wake of heavy rains c insa and a windstorm A rescue crew sear searched ed for a aman aman a man identified tentatively tu pasT as George H H. Bates 40 of of Chicago while an another ther crew pressed toward an isolated farm community louth of oC here The Theman man believed to be Bates was swept away when his his' auto automobile stalled on a bridge over a a. bran branch h hof of Elk creek two miles east of here k Dam Gives Way The farm families were In the L I path of waters turned loose when Elk City City's dam darn at 1 Its 40 O- O acre reservoir gave way Elk City officials said that that un unless less the families h had d advance warn warn- warning warning ing they might have been bean lost H. H C. C Cotton hI his bis wife and three thre children were were injured when wind demolished their tenna tennant t farm home mis southwest of here Elk Cit City in the watershed of fth the North Northfork fork ot of the Red river was aS without water and its sewage dW- dW plant was was' in r ruins Block Epidemic An immediate grant was was ra promised by W. W S. S Key S.-Key Key state W WP-A. WP P A director directo t to td repair the damage damage- damage and and nd to forestall 11 threats threat of an spi- spi demic The heavy rainstorm estimated at 6 6 inches here and ana 3 inches inches' at t Clinton extended front th the Tab Teai Oklahoma ma border east through Roger Mills MilIs Beckham Bec amICus Custer Cust e ramt and d northern parts part of county in western Oklahoma A squatters camp on on the e Mst east st em ern fringe of ot Elk Cit City and an eastern east em ern Elk City business district were in the pith path of tho the torrent from front Elk creek which sprawled smile mile mn wide in some places ilces Business men reported damage would total several thousand dollars in the eastern business district where a laundry a large creamery and four smaller business ho houses es' es were flooded Stopped on U U. S. S highway 66 by high nigh waters George Hayden truck driver abandoned his machine and Gd attempted to fo walk wal across the llie bridge g He was swept into the high waters of oC the branch of Elk creek and was taken from a n. tree by an Elk City rescue crew Three boys from Elk City Roy Gowdy Tommie Johnson and Bax Baxter ter Harris told city officers they saw the man believed to be Bates Bate swept into the swollen flood cr creek ek Waved Light He drove out on the bridge The water was up around the body o of the the thet car and he stopped Then we zaw him wave a flashlight We waved our flashlights flashlight back to him Then he started on across He drove into high water Gowdy said and the car must have stalled We Ve saw the man wave his flashlight again and then the car was w washed hed into the creek There was was one was one more more frantic signal signel trout from th the tho flashlight the boys said saIa but the water was too high for tor th them m to attempt