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» wanted .vs media luvay tall ily week-:ans were vautd like could do by work*id answer tried overnver said he tried that Compare 18.). (AP— 5 jury torn ents on s. The in-Grave Health Peril DevelopsIn Border CityBy TRAVIS WALSH Caller-Times Staff Writer LAREDO—Fiood waters; of the rampaging Pdo: Grande completely surrounded this border , city this morning as the Weather Bureau-predicted a. high would be reached sometime this . afternoon. The, swirling, debris laden waters’ were already ijtypre than 20 ft eel over the International Bridge. •' All motor traffic In' alnd out ol here' was stopped \vherr Highway 202 from *Freer was closed-hear the intersection of U Highway 81 inside the Laredo city limits.A serious health problem was developing as thousands were re-ported homeless and others, were being evacuated to higher ground. City Cut in Half In addition to.being isolated. Laredo was cut in half. The record-breaking flood backed Up info two creeks, separating the old town and business district- from a sec tion of newer homes and Laredo Air Force Base.The light, chocolate-colored waters of the flood surged into Man-ada Creek northwest of Laredo before the river begins bending around the town. The. waters surged on around'the town to the north and spilled also into Vacate Creek, completing the division oi Laredo.Highways and raitroad- tracks north of here were under water, and it was impossible to reach the air fields by land.'Hie re was no . com miuucalion with Nuevo Laredo across the usually lazy river. _ Whether there had been loss of' life there - was -unknown. About 100 people were seen to be removed from rbeftoos by helicopter. No loss of life had been reported, here on the Ameri. can side.Water that hacked up in I storm sewers and flooded several hundred pit privies created the roost pressing health hazard.The weather bureau shortly , before noon said the Rio Grande, had not crested. At 10:30. the river stood at slightly over 62 feet.The weather bureau said crest was expected between 2 and 16 p.m. today at from 62 to 63 feet. Thousands Homeless The flood waters have left thousands homeless here, but,the difficulty of communications prevented any accurate estimate.Meanwhile, despite the flood waters that covered major portions of tiie southern. central and western sections of the city, Laredo’s 60,000 residents had no water for drinking, bathing or cooking. Pumps feeding the water plant flooded out last night and all water was shut off at 9 p.m. Emergency replacements still had not been made late this morning.Mayor J. C. Martin, Jr., expressed some alarm about the water purification plant, which previously was reported in no danger. He said the flood waters were within a foot of the windows of the plant. However, the mayor said there is enough water in storage to turn it on about an hour a i day, mostly for drinking purpos-| es. He said there was no danger of J a shortage of water for fire iight-Img because of the plentiful sup* j ply of pmnper equipment be!angling to the city and to Laredo Ate [Force Base.{ Dr. M. L. Fuller, director ol [the Laredo-Wehb County Health Unit, said this morntr.g that “it looks like we’re going to he in at* awful mess as far as heaUh is concerned.Danger of Contamlnsttoa He said there is a real dange1, of rontamination of all areas where water is standing as well See LAREDO, IK
Newspaper Details
Corpus Christi Times
Corpus Christi, Texas, US
Wed, Jun 30, 1954
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Texas A.
TX, USA 10 Dec 2023
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