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APR 1 3 1Q36
!•/ . ,rthwestern
Un iv e rsity
Li brary
THE
WORKS
No. 4 -- 1141
PROGRAM
--Works Prog r e ss Administra tion--
For release in morning newspape rs
Monday, March 3 0 , 1936
Hopkins Says '.7orks Progress AdJninistration Reconstruction Work in Flood Areas
Now in Full Swing.
Flood rel ie f wo1·k by the Works Pro E,r ess Administration has
s,VLL~g into its tnird stage of ope ration--that of r econstruction--throughout
the fourteen st a.tes which were inundated a fortni~ht ago, Administrator Harry
L. Hopkins stated today.
A ste ady force of app roxi mat e ly 275, 000 men are working full
time at the task, he said, and millions of dollars of individual flood relief
projects are b e ing approved and initiat e d e ach day.
11
We have settled dorm to the important work of rebuilding
streets and roaJs, putting up bridce s, and se nerally restoring the f a ciliti e s
of normal life and commerce," he said, add i ng :
11
Proj ec ts are being approved ri ght on the s1,ot whe re the ir
need and desirability is clearly demonstrated, and it is seldom t hat approval
has been delayed for mo re t h an 24 hours .
State Administrators have been
authorized to put every man necesscixy on flood relief work, and in some cases
where there 1veren' t enough men in one loc a lity, they have been imp orte d from
another.
"We are doi:1.g the work as quickly a!1d as effectively as
p ossible, and arg11ing about proce dure s later."
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Mr. Hopkins said he v:as more than gratified at the reports reachi ng
his office of the manner in which Wo:.:·ks l'rof,I'ess Adrninistrc,tion crews we re able
to save life ar.d pr-:,T->erty v1he!l the flo ')d hazarc. first arose, and to carry on
with the inevitable "mopping up" and recons tr,1.cticn whi ch fC'lllo wed. .
In many l(')calities, he said, the WPA was the first agency to become
a we.re of the e xis tence of danger, a!ld act'.1ally evacua ted mruiy threatened
f amilies before the alarm became widesp read .
As waters encroached upon
farmlands an d l ow-. lying city streets , ·Norks Pro g:cess Adm i nis tratirm wo rka rs and
trucks we re hastily wit hdrawn . from their regular p rojects and rus hed into the
danger zones .
In the Pi ttsbu r gh-J1hnsto wn ar ea , whe re the first great thr~lS t of the
flo od wate rs was felt i!l Penn::;ylvania, all available WFA f orc os we re thr"''ll!l into
the b a ttle.
Hundreds of mon ],a.b or ed arrund the clock without r e st and wi th
only coffee and sandwiches passed out to thern bv voluntee r holp ors f or fo od .
How many p e r sons we re actually savel from dea th, an d how much p rc r,e rtv sal vaced
through the efforts of the se ·NFA wo rke rs, is impossiblA to e~ ti m&.te ,
Mr. Hopkins said.
"In Whee ling , Wes t Virg inia, al,:,ne, the ',forks Pr(')gress Admi nistrati,:1n
was res ri onsiole f or at l ea st 750 of the famili e s who we r e moved to hit;her
ground, 11 Mr. Hopkins declared.
Thousands of r escues wo r e made in c iti es and towns thrcugrsout the
area,
'Nhen t he su_rply of boats became scarce i n Fi ttsbur gh, c,ne gang of
WPA workmen was set to making rafts fr 0m vihat e ver lumbe r and drift wood was
available.
On one 3uch raft, the entire stock of a small mercnan t
I
which he
valued at around $3,000, was moved to se.fety thus savbg him, ac co r ding to his
own ad.'l1ission, fr om certain bankruptcy even had his l t fe a nd b 1i1di ng been
1
spared.
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4-1141
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Every WPA-leased truck in and around Johnstown was pressed
into service when news spread of the impending brea'-<: in the Q,ue.nnohoning
Dam.
More than 2,500 people were carried to s afety.
Work camps used by the Works Progress Administration in
Connecticut were turned over to the Red Cross for the shelt er of homeless
families.
In the City of Windsor, one gang of workmen
evacuated~ $50,000
supply of tobacco stor ed in the basement of a local tobacco factory.
Throughout the entire area, crews are now settling down to
the task of reconstruction.
More than 1,000,000 cubic yards of mud have
been removed from the streets of Johnsto wn,
Elsewhere, cellars are being
pumped dry, -publi cly owned utility properties being cleaned up and set to
working again, roads a.nd streets op ened, and s ewers unclogged.
of wells have bee n partially filJ.ed by tons of mud and silt.
ing dug out and t he wat ers rendered potable.
Thousands
These are be-
So heavy was the dep osit of
mud on the river par·k of one New England city tha t the authoriti e s have despaired of moving it.
They hc:i.ve decided to l e t it dry out, grade and land-
scape it, and then l'.ll 2-nt grass and shrubs on the new level.
Mr. Hopkins said human suffering ha d been brought to a minimum today largely through the efforts of the 1-.ed Cross a.nd other welfare
agencies which have handJ.ed this phase of the emergency.
Tons of food
have been turned over to it by the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation,
while sewing room s of the Works Progress Admini str!:ltion have provided lai~ge
quantities of garments and bedclothing.
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