Gradyville, KY Storm & Flood, Jun 1907 - 21 Dead

Louisville, Ky. - Twenty-one dead, the village devastated, and several thousand acres of growing crops ruined is the sum total of the havoc wrought by a cloudburst that descended on Gradyville, Ky., and vicinity Friday night.

All the dead are residents of Gradyville, and, although reports are meager, it is believed no further fatalities will be reported from the surrounding country.

The bodies of 10 of the victims have been recovered. The names of the known dead are:
MRS. L. C. NELL, wife of State Senator Nell, and her four children.
MRS. LUM HILL, and one child.
MRS. CARL MILMORE, her daughter and granddaughter.
PAUL WILSON, 18 years old.
MRS. HARTFIELD MOSS, and her six children.
MRS. J. W. KELTNER and one child.
MISS MARY MOSS.

The disaster was due to the erratic behavior of Big creek, ordinarily a small stream, but which was already swollen by recent rains. When the cloudburst precipitated three inches of rain in an hour on Gradyville and vicinity the creek leaped from its bed and took a new course with the impetuosity of a tidal wave.

Asleep When Disaster Comes.

The inhabitants of the town had no warning. Nearly all were abed when the foaming waters struck the place, carrying away six residences, a mill, and a number of smaller houses. Nearly all the victims were drowned, but four were crushed by the collapse of their dwellings when the torrent struck them.

State Senator Nell, who is a physician, owes his escape from the fate that overtook the rest of his family to the fact that he was several miles away in the hills visiting a patient when the storm broke. He was at first reported to be among the dead.

Gradyville is a village of 175 inhabitants in Adair county, six miles from Columbia, and 18 miles from the nearest railroad station.

Columbia was telephoned for assistance and a large number of citizens left that place at once, but owing to the condition of the roads it will require some time to make the trip. Every stream in the vicinity is out of its bounds. The cloudburst did serious damage aside from the loss of life, all bridges in this vicinity being washed away and thousands of acres of corn ruined.

Gazette, Stevens Point, WI 12 Jun 1907