Elba, AL Flood, Mar 1929 - Rescues

Rescue 4,000 at Elba, So. Alabama

Montgomery, Ala., Mar 15.-Four thousand residents of Elba, Ala., who have been marooned for twenty-fours hours by floods, were being rescued this afternoon and tonight by national guardsmen. Elba, was a thriving town about eighty miles south of Montgomery.

The Morning Call, Laurel, MS 16 Mar 1929

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Disease in Flood Wake Danger Now

Death - Destruction Go Hand in Hand Today

Dead Unknown Due to Debris

Many Fed on Housetop; Refugees Taken Care Of

TROY, Ala., March 16.-Virtually all of the marooneod [sic] townspeople of Elba, Ala., who for three days were forced to cling to their housetops by flood waters, have been rescued and taken to high ground, it was reported here tonight:

Hundreds of the refugees have been brought to Troy, while hundreds of others have been taken to refugee camps in the flood area. Many of the refugees were being housed in the public school buildings here.

Twenty seven refugees suffering from exposure were placed in a local hospital.

All of the refugees are being given typhoid vaccine in an effort to thwart an outbreak of the dreaded malady. An epidemic of measles already has broken out but efforts were being taken to prevent its spread.

The Morning Call, Laurel, MS 17 Mar 1929

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MONTGOMERY, Ala., March 16-No signs of relief were evident today, as the more than fifteen creeks and rivers which have inundated southeastern Alabama towns continued their muddy course over farm lands and thru towns and villages.

Death and destruction were spread throughout the panic-stricken area, and rescue workers struggled with the latet [sic] element that has entered he [sic] ravaged communities to make their work a harder task. Several cases of measles and one believed to be typhoid fever were reported at Elba, where rescue work had just begun to make progress.

Thousand of lives are still in peril and as airplanes and other rescue brigades are striving to relieve the havoc-ridden flooded counties.

Thirty-one persons have been reported dead in the southeastern section, and millions of dollars of property loss is recorded. More than 25,000 are homeless and suffering from exposure and hunger and probably many hundreds of persons have been drowned in the savage torrent.

A complete record of the lives lost in Alabama's disaster will be possible only after the flood waters recede, which is not expected for more than a week.

National guardsmen, army aviators and civilian pilots enlisted in the cause of rescuing the stricken refugees, reported strides thru-out the day in removing families from the watery villages.

Including the 200 rescued from the Elba courthouse, at a later hour more than 300 were reported out of the devasted sector.

It is estimated by engineers and levee worker who were rushed to the spot by airplane that it will take more than a week for the river to find its normal level between its banks after the flood begins to abate.

The Morning Call, Laurel, MS 17 Mar 1929