Louisville, KY Flood, Feb 1883

Louisville Suddenly Deluged.

An Embankment Burst At Midnight And One-Fifth Of The City Flooded.

Louisville, Ky., Feb. 13.-During the past 24 hours the Ohio River, by bursting through cut-offs and pouring over embankments, has completely submerged one-fifth of the area of this City. At least 7,000 or 8,000 people have been driven from their homes, and the loss by actual destruction of property, to say nothing of that from the stoppage of foundries and manufactories, is fully $800,000. To explain the situation fully it is necessary to state that the northeastern part of the city lying north of main Street and east of First, is on a level with the river when at average height, and it has been supposed hitherto to be protected from the flood by an embankment high enough to withstand even an extraordinary rise. This portion of the city is called “The Point,” and is inhabited mostly by laboring people. Scattered here and there among the cottages of the inhabitants are most of the large manufacturing establishments of the city.

At midnight last night the embankment which formed the only protection to this square mile of densely people territory gave way in several places simultaneously, and the immense body of water came down with tremendous force, sweeping everything before it. People who entered their houses on dry ground and went to bed in apparent safety awoke to find the water in the second stories. The frailer of the buildings were lifted from their foundations, carried, in some instances, a hundred rods and deposited against some other structure or left upside down in the midst of a sea of waters. Thirty-five squares were covered inside of a half hour to a depth of from 10 to 30 feet. It is impossible to state how many lives were lost, but it is feared that the number will prove great. Many men escaped by swimming. Several women with babies in their arms waded for squares before they reached places of security. At least 30 people of all ages and sexes were rescued from trees into which they had climbed. Hundred of domestic animals were drowned, and this to the people of “The Point” made a large item in the aggregate loss. It was impossible last night to gain any information either as to the extent of the damage or as to the condition of the sufferers, but this morning, with the first streak of daylight, the inundated region was alive with boats filled with relief parties. All night long large bonfires had been kept blazing on the edge of the flood, and hundreds of people availed themselves of the warmth. This morning ever available craft on the river was in active demand, and many families paid $10, and even $15, for the use of a boat for an hour or two to transport their furniture out of the reach of the water. Improvised rafts of doors, parts of fences, drift-wood, plank, and logs were to be seen in every direction, all freighted either with household goods or with people.

The Time’s correspondent secured a skiff and made a complete tour of the entire flooded district. The entry from the river was made by rowing directly over the roof of a two-story frame boarding-house, of which the chimneys alone were visible. On the left the smoke-stack of an engine belonging to the Haroldsburg Railroad was to be seen about two feet above the water. Five cars on the track behind it were completely submerged. Here and there a chimney protruded above the water. On every other chimney was a cat, yelling with fright. At Dennis Long’s pipe foundry, where 500 men left their work at 4 o’clock yesterday, expecting to renew it this morning, there was four feet of water over the floor. A little further up a church was reached, of which the spire and about two feet of the roof was all that was visible. This church had served as a check to several dwelling-houses, barns, and stables, and eight or ten of these were heaped up in every manner of grotesque shapes behind it. Above the church, on the left, is Letterle’s huge slaughter-house, which was thrown open as a refuge to the people driven from their homes. In this filthy place no less than 500 women and children were huddles together in wet clothes, hungry, and crying piteously for relief. Directly across from the slaughter-house the Time’s correspondent found a family of eight-an old woman, the mother, and six children-confined in a garret so low that the children could barely stand upright, and the water was up to their knees. Two by two they were taken out and carried to the slaughter-house. The old woman said they had been overlooked by relief boats, and she tried to tell her feelings as she saw the water creep up, inch by inch, upon her, with apparently no hope of relief. Further on a bridge was met floating down stream, in the center of which was a fine Alderney cow and two pigs.

Soon the scene of the break in the cut-off was reached, and from this point, where yesterday all was dry land, nothing but water was to be seen for a half-mile in each direction. The water-works, which stand on a high bluff, looked like some mammoth steam-boat standing stationary in the water. From this point the boat turned down Fulton Street, usually a handsome, well-paved avenue. Now the water was clear above the lamp-posts, and in the first house two men were rowing a boat into a second-story window to get out furniture. At a corner grocery, the proprietor sat astride the roof, coolly watching for the boxes of various articles which from time to time would be washed out from below and fishing them in with a long stick. Two squares further down, an entire lumber-yard, afloat, was found moving slowly but systematically in the direction of the current. The Police in this part of the city were covering their beats in sculls, and on the sharp lookout for thieves, who last night committed many depredations. The currents around the corners were very swift, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the boat avoided being swamped several times. The last thing before leaving the skiff at 2 o’clock, The Times’s correspondent was rowed to the building of Capt. Levi, on which are registered the high water marks of the floods of 1847 and 1832. The former was completely covered and the latter was 7 inches above the water. Since that time the water has been rising at the rate of an inch an hour and before morning the greatest flood on record will be eclipsed.

It is still cloudy and raining hard at 7 o’clock to-night. There are grave apprehensions of another break at Portland, the western suburb of the city, which is already half flooded, and if it should occur the scenes of last night will be repeated. This calamity, however, cannot occur until near morning, and may be averted, should the river come to a stand. Mayor Jacobs has been constantly at work without rest since noon yesterday, trying to give relief to the sufferers. Several thousand dollars; worth of food was distributed today. The Times’s correspondent met the Mayor late to-night. He was worn out and dripping wet from head to foot. He said by to-morrow night he hoped to have nearly all the sufferers comfortable. The churches, public buildings, and hospitals are all thrown open, and a large force of men is at work dispensing supplies. Railroad communication by all roads east is cut off, except by the Ohio and Mississippi, which is transferring its passengers from Aurora, Ind., to Cincinnati by steamer. The situation of New-Albany and Jeffersonville, the towns directly across the river, is almost exactly a duplicate of that in Louisville, and much suffering and heavy damage has resulted.
The New York Times, New York, NY 14 Feb 1883

Louisville.

The dam protecting the low lands in the eastern part of Louisville, Ky., broke Monday night, letting 60 feet of water upon 20 blocks of dwellings, and it is reported that 30 lives were lost, but there is no certainty of this. Those known to be lost are: John Finch and son; George Lynch; Edward Harris and George Bell. Harry Browning, a lieutenant of police, and his wife and three children are missing, but it is hoped they had moved out. It is feared that when the waters subside ghastly scenes will be disclosed in houses now under water. The river all day Monday had just lapped the top of Fulton Street and the embankments and in places the water trickled over. At 3 p.m. a considerable break happened at Adams Street and 100 men worked vigorously to stop the waves; but, in the face of all this, the inhabitants of the bottoms of Old Bear grass creek remained in their houses and most of them went to bed as usual. About 11 p.m. the break came and the cut-off dam was overcome by the terrific weight of water from above. It gave way instantly and with a loud roar the flood rushed over. The water had a fall of 15 to 18 feet to the low ground beneath. In less time than it takes to tell it, the yellow tide was sweeping in from all points. The unfortunate people were surprised in their houses by the water, which swept from square to square, rapidly rising in houses, carrying many from their foundation. The scene was awful. The roar of the waters could not drown the screams of the terrified people escaping from the dwellings. Skiffs shot about from window to window; men, women and children waded through the advancing waters, each with whatever household goods they could lay their hands on; bonfires glimmered from the higher ground, which the poor outcasts had gained, and hundreds of people shivered in wet clothing about the smoky fires. It is impossible to understand why the loss of life was not larger. People who were sleeping in confidence that the embankments would shelter them, were rudely awakened by the flood coming into their houses. Some were even surprised in bed. When the stroke came it was like lightning. In darkness and cold they fled from death, half clothed and carrying children and the helpless. So suddenly were the unfortunate people overtaken that the escape of many by the streets was cut off, and they were compelled to seek safety on the roofs of their houses, terror stricken and unable to see in the darkness what was going on around them. The scene yesterday morning was one of general devastation. The roofs of the houses were crowded with men, women and children shivering in scanty garments and waiting to be rescued from their uncomfortable and perilous positions by men in skiffs, who worked diligently from early dawn to rescue them.

A large relief committee has been organized with the mayor at its head and all that can is being done. The entire northeastern corner of the city is a picture of utter destruction. Thirty-five squares are under water. The situation may be briefly summed up as follows: All the [illegible] is under water and the country beyond the cut off, comprising 150 houses known as Belleville is flooded. Half of Portland and all of Shippingport are under water. All day yesterday a stream of people passed up and down the Short Line track to look at the ruin wrought by the river. The outlook is appalling. Houses are overturned, some on their sides, some almost on their roofs. Other buildings are crushed to pieces. Most of the houses are small frail cottages and perhaps a third of those in the flooded locality have been swept away from their foundations. In the lower hollows of the bottom lands the water is within a foot or two of the roofs of the houses.

The river continued to rise slowly all day yesterday, and was about 66 ½ feet above a low-water mark last night. The rise is now an inch above the flood of 1847, but eight inches below that of 1832. On the point of the disaster the flood extends over a space more than a quarter of a mile long. Over 1000 houses are either under water or floating about, most of them owned by poor people.

Springfield Republican, Springfield, MA 14 Feb 1883
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Transcribed by June. Thanks June!