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r,. v-..11'1 T HE WORKS PROGRAM *** --Works Progress Administration-For Release to Morning Newspapers, Tue so_ay, J anuary 26, 1937. WPA Forces Fighting Flood in Ten States . With approximatel y 45,000 project workers on the flood front i n ten States, the Works Progr ess A,i :11inistration is employing all available manpower and materials 11 around the clock 11 in an unrelenting battle at all danger points, Admin::.strator Harry L. Hopkins announced toni ght . The five Midwestern States where the situation appeared most critical-Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois an.a Missouri--had. an estir:iA.tec' 32,000 WPA workers on the job tonight, though failure of communication lines ma.d.e an accurate check on some cities impossible. Arkansas threw a force of 10,000 'J.!PA men and women employee s a gainst the flooa in 12 northeastern counties, setting up refugee camps for 15,000 homeless families. Wo:nen workers today maa.e availaol e 5, 000 bee. sacks for distribution by the Red. Cross. In West Vir ginia, 2, 000 WPA workers were bu.,y on day and night shifts and haa. evacua te c:I more than 4,, noo famili es , or 16, 000 persons, from the danger zone. Sma ller forc es of WPA workers were on flood_ duty in three other States--400 in Te nnes s ee , 300 in Mississipp i and 40 in Freeport, Pa. I n sou the rn Illinois, following compl e te evacuation of Shawneetown, appr oxima tely 2,500 WPA workers who have been' busy strengthening levees in that area were being shift ed to points fa~tner South, in and above Cairo on the Ohio ri ver, where results of dy namiting on the "fuse-plug" levee along the Mississippi were anxiously awaited.. At Ca iro tonight, 500 WPA workers under supervision of Col. Eugene Reybold, U. S. Army Engineers, were assigned to placing 275,000 sandbags atop the 60-foot levee, to provide an additional three feet of elevation as the flood waters rea.chec.. a stage of 58.62 feet at 6 p.m. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY No. 4-1414 - 2 - Increasing concern was reported at several points in West Virginia, as all communications wjth Point Pleasant failed and the water continued to rise at other cities, State WPA officials said. conditions were described as 11 At Huntington, where the most acute", 974 WPA workers, including a number of women, had 2-nswered 4,000 calls for assistance and had evacuated 750 families from the flooded zone. Seven hundred fe.milies ha,d been moved from flooded homes at South Wheeling and Wheeling Island; approximately 500 had been evacuated from the Parkersburg area e,nd 300 families had been aided in finding refuge in vfayne County. Point Pleasant and other cities previously had reported large num'Jers evacuated. Organiza- tion for sanitation control, in cooperation with local health authorities, was reported s omyilete r>nd VfPA women workers throughout the St Rte were busy making supplies for fl ood victL1s. Others •:ere assistiag in commodity transport while carpenters from WPA rolls were placed at the disposal of communities needing boats. First report of er!ler[;ency flo od. work in Mississippi by WPA .vorkers 1 came today when 300 men v,ere assigned to strenf;thenine leve e s 2-long the Tallahatchie and Coldwater rivers in ~uitman county. State YvPA Administrators throJ.ghout the flood zone were working in close coopere,tion with State Red Cross officials, Administrator Hopkins explained, to effect complete coordination of the efforts of these ~gencies. I Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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