| Show FLOOD CRISIS MADE NEW HEROES Backstage Scenes Revealed Courage and Resourcefulness of Relief Workers in Rescuing Sufferers r I e eT 4 By ALWYN W W. KNIGHT sound rose to a wail Wheres Mummie It was an T TIlE THE unmistakable cry for help shrill with mounting hysteria The woman paused wheeling toward the abandoned house from Irom which the sound had come An arm brassard bearing the emblem of the Red Cross identified her told her business here in the deserted street running knee deep with muddy wa wa- ter This entire section of residential Pittsburgh looked as though it had been floated out to sea Wheres M Mum mid um-mie um I It was a scream now there was no notime notime notime time to lose The relief worker plunged to the rescue and re reappeared reappeared reappeared re- re appeared a moment later with a parrot a Badly scared talking parrot in her arms Behind scenes with Americas America's r relief re re- reI I lief agencies changes chunges the complexion complex complex- ion of ot a flood The human little Incident In In- tell the rent real story Humor pathos thai and Inevitably a II quiet heroIsm hero hero- Ism do not penetrate the dally daily barricade bar of cf headlines This Is especially espe espe- dally true of this springs spring's great eastern floods which have taken a R atoll atoll toll of ot nearly II lives vea caused property property prop prop- erty damage scaling to one halt half billion dollars and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes In 13 states The Tile runoff runolf from snow snowbanks snowbanks banks bank started It Ice floes gorging miles of ot the East's great grent waterways water water- ways broke froze and amI broke again The Potomac the th Androscoggin the Ohio and the these Susquehanna and other turbulent giants to shake themselves loose and come alive Without Maying much nb about mt It It people began to wonder what would happen If of it should rain hard and the department of ot rivers on and 1 floods at the United States weather bureau Washington spent a lot of ot time on the phone answering questions questions ques ques- JOHNSTOWN THREATENED And then the rain came deluging the northeastern rD watershed con con- melting snow Into runaway water by the ton smashing river Ice free of at banks hanks Surcharged rivers rivers riv riv- ers era from Maine to Virginia and from New Jer Jersey 1 to Ohio broke bank and leveled out an In ever ever- widening stain which brought desolation desolation deso dean lation to all It touched Johnstown waa threatened with a duplication of the debacle of 89 Pittsburgh was waa Isolated overnight It Its I light and power disrupted Its airports airport suddenly vast vait lakes lakel WheelIng Wheel Wheel- Ing W. W V Vs Va was truck struck with such luch devastating suddenness that marooned men women and Ind children were trapped as a. water pyramided to the second floors floor of homes homel Other Oth Oth- er r towns other cities leaned against the Invaders Invader's sweeping cur rent Organized relief took the field neld led by the American Red Cross Crofts which quickly deployed COO 00 trained disaster workers to key points of ot flooded areas area The United States Coast Cout Guard Onard sent a fleet of power powerboats powerboats boats boat to churn up and down the main malu streets of Americas America's most densely populated d centers center Countless Countless Count Count- less leu other organizations and groups pooled resources resource to avert a major tragedy But Dut the press of the nation has bas already tready given a composite picture of flood noad details Day after day headlines paced the southward flow now of tit each tach crest and told vividly of ot new areas area threatened The public was brought bro to the river rITer bank to view with alum alarm but the very breadth and scope of the catastrophe catastrophe phe made It Impossible to bring this public to the Individual home bome show a of a Red lied ed Cross refugee tamp Kamp portray portra the Interior of a crowded rescue boat plying from house bouse to house In the halt half light of ofa ofa a sleet brought dawn WANTED TO DIE DIEThe DIEThe DIEThe The real rul tory story however has baa been told It has come ome In to snatches from the lips of ot the men and women who were there who still r are It has bal been told In to part by volunteer workers by trained workers by bythe bythe bythe the rank and file of the great army of rescue and rehabilitation It happened at Springfield Mast Mass Rising water trapped a n family of ot three There was a woman who weighed 25 2511 pounds her ninety six year old grandfather and ond her hUBband hue hUB band The rhe circumstances were unusual unusual un un- usual In this tills way wayt these people had had time to move out Hut But they wanted to die To the woman bedridden bedridden bed bed- ridden three years rears with willi a broken hip the flood meant lasting peace lied Cross workers evacuating families from the city's elt's danger spots reached their home hODle The woman would not cot budge Her lIer husband husband hus hus- band grimly determined stood tood 5 7 t pp t ll a sw t e eal R. R t t al a s of dr e etee tee g. g S x b a 1 4 Red Cross Croll Volunteers House Houle Feed and Care for Homeless Children In Pittsburgh Flood Area guard before her barring the way It necessary to knock the husband out to get the woman Into 1110 rescue boat bout After Arter she was taken to a n hospital she went on a hunger strike The rhe husband meanwhile mean while hall had disappeared fearing arrest ar nr rest for tor 1 resisting rescue rescue Several days passed passed and and the woman woman wom worn an nn begun belan to weep wel for tor her Iler husband I For or the first time she was receiving ing medical care and life lite was worth holding onto The Iced Cross located located located lo lo- the missing husband and a touching reunion re took place In the side of ot the cot In the hospital ward The rhe woman will be given givena a new start In n life Ute Sometimes the line lino between drama and Ind melodrama Is II drawn with a sure ure bold stroke This Is II true In the tho following Instance A ARed ARed ARed Red Cross Croal nurse nursa who Is I. a war vet vet- for el eight ht hours until a second cutter cutter cut cut- ter ler pulled p alongside and pumped the Kenosha out sufficiently suf to shore shora and patch her After Arter which she sha proceeded to Powhatan under tinder her own power PEOPLE RETAIN HUMOR When Wilen flood nood waters waler sideswiped Mass homes and outbuildings outbuildings outbuildings out out- buildings were swept downstream eam Sheds and roadside stands were wert tumbled end over end for nearly a mile DIlle Citizens of the community formed a posse to hunt their dwellIngs dwellings dwellings dwell dwell- ings and spent the better part of ot a day stalking service stations and avd sheds In mid mid stream The fortitude fortitude forti torti- tude of these people wn was remark remark- able They had lost everything yet they could joke about their strays A section of Mass was Isolated when a wooden bridge was shaken loose and floated down down- river Residents of at the section took to boats and chased the bridge gaining slowly but surely Bank watchers hooted encouragement The bridge was caught towed back and moored over Its foundations When the water receded It dropped Into place so IJO accurately that traffic Immediately crossed Two residents of at Wheeling W. W Va are am dead They contracted pneumonia while engaged In rescue work They volunteered their servIces services services ices to aid the plight of their neighbors neighbors neigh neigh- bors these men and paid for tor their heroism with their lives THOUSANDS NEED HELP I With flood crests receding loss to the Individual family becomes more apparent It Is no longer colored by excitement by terror There may maybe maybe mayhe be he something almost majestic about a house Immersed to Its gables gallantly gallantly gal gal- straining against raging tor tor- rents Hut But a R home has lias a like ghostlike half burled look I a II dry and when the water has drained away Furniture Is warped and aM broken Mud and slit silt are piled plied feet deep over once choice belongings Plaster Plaster Plas Plas- ter has flaked away pyramiding the soggy mess below Walls have buckled plumbing and electrical fixtures must be relegated to the junk pile The home Is le dead dud with It Its I mouth ag agape pe and It Its I window eyes eyel have been poked out and It IIno Is la lano no longer a home at all Small wonder that flood sufferers without reso resources must be helped to face the future The Red Cross reports that In Wheeling alone families will require some form of household household house house- hold goods or home repair assistance assist ance ante The United States Const Coast Guard rescued d persons from Wilkes Wilkes- Barre nd and 1 Kingston homes T The I Susquehanna loops here and flood floodwaters floodwaters waters spilled ss at nt right angles angles an nn- closing the loop There Therl resulted resulted result result- ed some of ot the swiftest and ond most treacherous currents ever encountered encountered by small craft The Red Bed ed Cross chapter at Wilkes Wilkes- Barre Pa Ia established a first aid station In a trolley car placed at atthe atthe atthe the end of ot the Market street bridge Physicians were In charge aided by byRed byed Red fled ed Cross nurses and the Chapter First Aid Aid crew of ot 45 men As Coast CoastGuard Guard boats brought refugees to the bridge they were Inspected thee either sent to a hospital or treated f t CAlc en M i Y r McClure Avenue Presbyterian Church Pittsburgh Is II Turned Into Emergency Emergency Emer Emer- gency genc Refugee Station eran eon set let out for Washington for much needed Second Sec Sec- end ond Lieutenant Mary Scanlon was Wit trapped by rising water In Bellaire Ohio en ear rout For 48 hours houri she washed dishes and tended fright fright- ned Ined children at af a refugee center putting the needs of others othera before her own pressing need for rest reat and medical car care During the first arlt flood crest the Coast Guard cutter Kenosha under Capt 11 Henry en 17 Rogers was Will rammed by a log lo In the Ohio during a blindIng blinding blinding blind blind- ing blizzard The cutter loaded with relief lup supplies lIe was II bound for tor Ohio The crew stuffed the jagged tear In the hull bun with blankets blanket keeping the vessel afloat on the trolley If It requiring n attention The flood Is over oyer Rivers In practically practically pray all affected areas are homeward home hODle- ward bound for tor their banks hanks Mass feeding and shelter stations are ore carIng carIng car- car Ing lug for tor comparatively few these days But rehabilitation has haa Just Jut begun For long weary months month relief agen des cles will Interview Individual fam tam Illes III and survey damaged homes home This the heart breaking aftermath of catastrophe Is I. the version of the flood tale which will live longest In the memories of families who have lost lot the bulk of their possessions The rest reat of the world soon lOon forgets e C CaiOla |
