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Un iv ,- No. 4 -- 1125 no0u ~~:. ROO,,, T HE WORKS M,i. PROGRAM 0 ·. 1336 -- Works Progress Administration • ~\ F or Re 1 ease in Morning Newspapers Tuesday, March 24, 1936. wP.A Workmen Begin "Mopping Up" in Flood Devastated Areas. As waters re ceded throughout the flood-swept Northeast yesterday and today, more than 250,000 WPA workmen prepared for the long haul of reconstruction, rehabilitation, and general "mopping up" which President Roosevelt promised to ~ the stricken communities last week and strengthened by the appropriation Saturday of an additional $25,000,000 of emergency flood relief funds. Direct relief needs are being met by the Red Cross, local Welfare groups, and, in the case of food, to a large extent by the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation, Harry L. Hopkins, Works Progress Administrator, said. WPA workers are aiding in the distribution of these materials, n.nd ar e actually contributing hundreds of thousands of garments, blankets, and comforters produced in WP.A. s1., wing rooms. The new flood relief fund, he added, will be confined strict- ly to the work of rehabilitation; reconditioning and reconstructing public properties damages to which constitute a large portion of the total bill of a::pproximately half a billion dollars run up thus far. Citi e s Jn ~he lower reaches of the Ohio River -- notably Cincinnati -~/'till faced risL 6 waters today, but with flood crests substantially lower than ~ - they were further north, precP.utionary men.sures already taken Rre believed adequate to prevent any loss of life or undue damage to property. Elsewhere, the wat ers are going down and the job of "digging out 11 has begun. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY No. 4 -- 1125 - 2 - The state administrator for Kentuc~r wired Mr. Hopkins today _that several hundred WPJ,, workmen have been busy for the last four days evacuating families and household belongings from thr eate ne d areas. "Workers are exhibiting a splendid attitude", this communication said. "Willing to wo rk overtime and Sunday r egardless of pa~r for overtime". The Ame rican Legi on and other groups, it was added, are h elping to maintain the men' s morale l,y keeping them supplied with hot coffee and sandwiches as they work. 11 Every availabl e WPJ,, employee pres sed into servic e throughout our State t o save life and p r one rty" , William P. Fahey, State WPJ.. J,dr,1inistrator fo r New Hampshire advised in his latest telegraphic r eport. "Fl ood danger now passed 11 , he continued. 11 0ur next bi g job is to a id i n reconstruction". J... numb,;,r of int er esting sidelights, some of them grimly humorous, have been revealed in the daily accounts of WPJ,, emer 6 ency rescue work whi ch have pour ed hourly into J,,dministrat or Hopkins 1 office during the last f our days. The Ohio administrator rec ount ed briefly th,;, adventure of a two-man rescue sq_uad. fighting against the current of a swollen strea,m i n a row boat to r each a family marooned atop their small barn. The swiftness of the waters snapped first one and then the other of their two oars, and the hapless rescuers were swep t nearly a quarter mile downstream before they, th emselves, were rescued by other wo r ke rs. One group of WPJ,, workers in Bellaire, Ohio, braved the dange rs of asphyxiation and explosion to remove a large quantity of carbide from a warehouse, the floors of which already had been undermined by h igh v-:ater. City officials generously praised the men 's heroism, for had the carbide become we t, they po int ed out, an exnl osion, and possibly fire, might have res1.1lted which would have endanger ed a large s ect ion of the town. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY No. 4--1125 -3- . ,nothers • JiJTiong those r escued a t another point in Ohio were two women about to becoml' Both were rushed . to ho spit a ls a s soon a s l and wa s reached, where their \ babies were born in s afety. A WPA p roject complet e d some mo n ths a go is cr edited with s aving the residents of Gilbertson, Schuylkill County, Pa., from the wa t eryfe.te of many of their neighbors, The project wa s for the dredging, s tra ight ening, and walling of section , .liahanoy Creek, whi ch in the past h a d fraquen tly overflowed its b anks with consequc'" .oss an d damage to the surrounding c ountry. . This time, it is rep orted, the Mahan o;-; s tayed within its bounds, alb eit by inches, an d Gilbertson esc ap ed with only negligi i nconvenience wh ile h avoc r age d a ll about it. When usua l c ommun ic a tion f a c il it i es brok e down in up-state New York -- due a s much to snow an d sleet a s to the flood -- WPA officials took to the a ir to commun • cate instructions to their sc a tt e red rescue crews . 11 Ra d.io p rov e d of ine s timab l e v a l ue in kee~Ji ng conta ct s when ordina r y co~ munic a tio ns were par alyzed.", Les ter Vi. Herzog, Sta te WPA a dministra tor for New York, s t a ted i n a, r ec en t rep ort. to a league of amateu r He g av e high p r a i s e to st a tions WGY and wnKO, as well a s short wa ve op era tors in the aff ecte d zon es. The Civ i c .Art s Thea te r in Syra cuse will p res en t a benefit p erformance by unit of the Federa l Theater P roject Tuesday night, the tot al p roceeds of whi ch will be turned over to the Red Cro ss for the reli ef of flood s ufferers. A p rogram of v aud eville with a one- act comedy p l aylet will make up the prog ram. C'- 0- 0- 0- C.-0 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 2
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