Flood and Fatality

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 29, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 38.

Flood and Fatality

The Awful Catastrophe at Monterey, Mexico

THROUGH the kindness of the superintendent of the Mexican Mission Field, Pastor G. W. Reaser, we have received copies of “The Mexican Herald,” published in the City of Mexico, giving very full accounts of the awful floods in the city of Monterey in Northeast Mexico. It is almost impossible to conceive how breaking dams and heavy rains could cause such damage. Railroads have been broken up and the city has been more than flooded. Eighteen blocks have been washed away. Thousands are without food and thousands more homeless.

Over 1,200 bodies have been recovered so far, but the last estimates are that more than 2,000 perished in the city of Monterey. The Santa Catarina River became a great roaring torrent, which divided in the city into two fierce streams, sweeping away five blocks of the district south of the river, and leaving that part of the city as tho no buildings had ever stood there.

No Americans have been reported to be lost, and it is not thought that any of them are missing, as few foreign families resided in the flooded district.

Reports from the country up and down the valley of the Santa Catarina are hard to obtain; but the associated press despatch reports that the dead has been placed at 2,000 by the city authorities, and the number of homeless between 15,000 and 20,000. The Federal Government has sent in $50,000 in money, and contributions are pouring in from different cities in the United States.

The great Monterey steel plant was one of the heaviest losers, not only in wrecked buildings, but in 500,000 tons of coke. It is, however, upon the poor people that the suffering falls heaviest.

During seventy-two hours ending at noon of August 29, twenty-one and seven-eighths inches of rain fell in Monterey. Many houses have fallen from the effects of the continuous rains, and many others are tottering. It is supposed that many of the dead will never be recovered, as the river is filled with quicksand, and bodies have doubtless been covered by these shifting sands.

Local bakers were unable to supply bread, as their ovens were flooded and a scarcity of wood exists. There is plenty of corn around the town, but all the mills for grinding it have been destroyed. Water pipes were broken, so that no drinking-water was left in the city, and a food and water famine is threatened. Yet humanity is doing all that it can to relieve the sufferers.

Added to the flood have been destructive fires which have since occurred, increasing the loss many thousands of dollars. The accompanying photographs will give our readers an idea of the destructiveness of the flood.

Where the flood cut down 25 feet. Washing away bodily four city blocks which extended out from the spot where the man stands. Once a street corner.

One well-known magazine writer, Mr. E. T. Hollingsworth, declares that the rise of the Santa Catarina was one of the most devastating floods on record. In the mountains the loss of life and property was greater than in the city. It is estimated that three thousand lives were lost in the mountains, and property valued at one million dollars. Where once was the national railroad to Saltillo is now the bed of a large river, so that the railroad is compelled to build an entirely new line.

Working in the flooded district is very dangerous on account of the stench from the dead bodies of both man and beast. Soon after the flood, he tells us, and before the city recovered itself, the meats sold in the markets were something horrible, but the people were forced to buy them or starve. One of the natives was to be seen on the street with an old hen in one hand and a basket of eggs in the other. The eggs had signs of the cross painted on them, and also some queer characters which read that the world is coming to an end. He was telling every one that the hen was a saint and had laid the eggs. Some of the people of course believed this, and they were to be seen praying to the hen to please stop the flood.

Improvised ferry. Ten cents for crossing after the flood.

The original bed of the river in the city was only about fifty feet wide, and now is over half a mile. Where streets were once only ten feet above the river, the river is now twenty-five feet below the streets.

And so we might fill a page with items of the awful news, but this must suffice.

The latest news comes from Washington, September 12, and is to the effect that more than 10,000 lives have been lost in the Santa Catarina Valley. Matamoras is under water. The receding of the flood water reveals no exaggeration, but confirms all the earlier reports sent out. It is said that none other than eye-witnesses of the scene in the stricken portion of the city can imagine its awful horror.