EAST TEXAS FLOODS WRECK PROPERTY AND HALT TRAINS

LONGVIEW CUT OFF FROM RAIL TRAFFIC

TRACKS WASHED OUT; STORM AT MARSHALL.

POPLAR BLUFF, Ark., April 26. - The Missouri Pacific tracks at Hogan, near here, were washed out by driving rains early today. All trains in this section are running far behind schedlues. Black River has risen five feet at Leeper, thirty miles north of here.

MARSHALL, April 26. - An electric storm which accompanied the rail here Tuesday morning, caused damage to electric lights and telephone service. A barn belonging to F.G. Whaley was destroyed by fire early last night, entailing a loss estimated at $15,000.

Parts of East Texas suffered severely from floods Tuesday, according to messages to The Star-Telegram.

Traffic on the Texas & Pacific from Longview and Texarkana to Fort Worth was tied up and an embargo was placed on all eastbound shipments of freight for a period of thirty-six hours. The floods followed torrential rains in East Texas Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

According to reports from Longview, the heavy rain caused a washout at Abney, a junction, six miles east of Marshall and traffic was held up behind a freight, which was reported ditched at that point. Several bridges on the Dixie and Jefferson highways near there are also reported to have been washed out, and Longview is practically cut off from rail communication.

Sabine River Rising Rapidly.

All creeks in the vicinity are reported swollen with water standing at various depths in the lowlands. The Sabine River is reported to be rising rapidly, and is expected to be out of its banks by late afternoon. Crops are also reported to have suffered much damage by the deluge. Clear weather prevailed Tuesday morning, it was said.

Three thousand acres of land in the vicinity of Texarkana were reported flooded, and the property damage was estimated at more than $100,000. The city pumping station was out of commission Tuesday morning, and the city is reported without fire protection or water for commercial or residential use.

Train Schedules Improved.

Texas & Pacific train No. 23, due here at 8:35 a.m. Tuesday from New Orleans was stranded somewhere east of Longview and was ordered annulled. Train No. 3, due here at 10 a.m. from St. Louis, suffered a similar fate, according to J.W. Knightlinger, superintendent of the Fort Worth division.

Outgoing train No. 22 for New Orleans, due to leave here at 10 a.m., was ordered annulled. Officers awaited instructions as to train No. 2, due to leave here at 3:20 p.m. for St. Louis.

Definite reports of the high water were not received at the T. & P. office here as this division only extends as far as Longview. It was believed the heavy clouds which passed over Fort Worth Monday afternoon flooded the region east of Longview.

Fort Worth Star-Telegraph, Fort Worth, TX 26 Apr 1921
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Transcribed by Tim Taugher. Thanks, Tim!