Bath & Hornell, NY Area Flood, Jul 1935

Frightful Toll Is Taken by New York Downpour With Towns Isolated After Dams Collapse

Damage in Millions

Hundreds Are Homeless and Showers Continue; Autoists Are Marooned

Albany, N. Y., July 8 (AP). – The casualties in up-State New York’s cloudburst and subsequent floods reached thirty Monday – twenty-two dead and eight missing, and property damage was estimated to be well over $10,000,000.

State and national governmental units began the task of providing relief for the several thousand temporarily homeless.

Immediately after Gov. Herbert H. Lehman gave authority to National Guard officers to press the infantry into service, units at Elmira and Hornell were mobilized to be held in readiness to move to the flood-stricken areas.

Sanitation Is Problem.

Governor Lehman obtained the transfer of 25,000 relief workers from works projects to flood areas, and American Red Cross in Washington sent three disaster relief workers to Hornell and Bath in Steuben County.

Swollen rivers and creeks were receding gradually in most sections after leaving a trail of washed out bridges and railroad lines, partially wrecked communities and cluttered highways. Hundreds of families were forced to spend the night in the open, out of the flooded lowlands, or with friends in near-by hills.

The problem of sanitation confronted several municipal administrations as water systems remained out of commission, principally in Hornell, Trumansburg, Watkins Glen and Bath.

Town Is Isolated.

All except two of the deaths were caused by drowning, and all occurred in the southern tier of counties where the storm caused the most damage. Hornell, Bath and Trumansburg, in the south central portion of Upstate New York, were the hardest hit.

Mayor Leon F. Wheatley of Hornell, a city of 16,000, appealed to the State temporary relief administration for funds to provide food and clothing for persons forced from their homes.

Bath, a town of 4,000 was isolated. A swollen creek invaded the business section of Trumansburg, near Ithaca, causing suspension of business and sending most of the 1,200 inhabitants scurrying for higher ground.

Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX 9 Jul 1935
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Transcribed by Jenni Lanham.