Show GREAT HAVOC WROUGHT BY VIRGINIA FLOOD loee ot lite I 1 laced at seventy five prop erty very great A cloudburst in the top region near west vir ginia sunday details of which are yet incomplete caused a loss of seventy i five lives and the destruction of a mil ion dollars worth of property the dur of the storm ef and in less than an hour nearly two inches of water fell on mountain tops east and west of the valley convere ng the waters in a narrow region and causing untold d basters the atle lown of keystone with a population of about 2 u the greatest sufferer practically tl e en tire to v being washed a vay this town is the principal one in the hontas coal fields and is located near its center it was to a great extent the headquarters from which the nun ing population pi acl ased supplies and ws also the only place in the field where wh sky coi id be purchased at this place there were some twelve to fifteen saloons all of which were washed away the report comes that the la ning populate on e i now occupy ing the banks of the stream below catch ng the merchandise and barrels oj quor and beer as they float down A great number of coal and coke plants throughout the pocahontas die brict are reported practically destroyed and are in some instances entirely washed away owing to the very high water wh ch has flooded the reg on and prevented communication any thine like a correct estimate of the loss of property is impossible fifty dead bodies have 1 een found thousands of people are homeless and jt is feared that many are without food or at the best with only food enough to last a few days the work of establish ng ra irpak com munica tion is being pushed with v gor there is little hope of send fig atte sufferers succor until railroad connection is re stored men are at work clearing away the debris and recovering the bodies of the dead over miles of track belonging to the various coal operations are cally lost the ra Is are bent and twisted like wires even the heavy girders of the collapsed i railroad bridges were rendered useless the force of the flood is better understood when it is exola ned that by eason of a long fill and a low iron bridge some distance up the valley the flood was damned and a monster body of water abed probably as large a volume as was conta ned in the famous dam at johnstown ahen this obstruct on gave way it let down a great flood on the villages and ning camps below the storm ats accompanied ga terrific thunderstorm and much dam age was caused by 1 |