WATERS COVER SOUTH CAROLINA

Property Loss by the Flood Will Be Very Heavy

SEVERAL PERSONS DROWNED

Five Perished When Steel Bridge at Camden Was Destroyed - Flood is Most Damaging in History of the State.

Five Lives Lost at Camden

The crops along the rivers and creeks near Camden are a total loss, and untold damage has been done to the corn and cotton crops on the uplands. It is now practically certan [sic] that five persons were drowned yesterday when the toll bridge across the Wateree river at Camden went down, Mr. George Babon and his son and three negro women. Several teams were also lost at the same time. Two more negroes were rescued near Camden today from positions after remaining in the midst of the flood in trees all night. William Depass, who succeeded yesterday afternoon in getting forty-eight of his horses to a place of apparent safety received the information lat this afternoon that all but nine of the horses had been drowned.

Five large dams in the neighborhood of Camden have broken entailing a loss of thousands of dollars. The Southern railway trestle below Camden was under water at 7 o'clock this evening, and the Seaboard Air Line embankment up to the trestle across the Wateree has been washed out. The roads to the Pine Creek and Hermitage cotton mills at Camden, are under water, and it is impossible for the operatives to pass.

The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA 27 Aug 1908

--------

The situation at Camden was considerably improved today by a fall of 18 inches in the Wateree but at 6 o clock this evening this river was reported rising again. Business has been practically suspended in Camden and for three days no trains have been operated into or out of Camden over the Sea board Air Line Atlantic Coast Line or Southern railways.

The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA 28 Aug 1908
__________________