t might overflow and do some damage, and the
citizens had been watching it, and taking every precaution against a
flood. Men had been stationed on the bridges ready to give the alarm if
the river rose so high that there was danger.

On April 27th the danger appeared to be past, the river fell a few feet,
and though the watchers were still kept at their posts, no one supposed
that a flood would really come.

At six o'clock in the morning of April 28th, the men on the bridges heard
a terrible roaring up the river valley. Convinced that a flood was coming,
they gave the alarm, ringing the fire-bells, and warning the people to
flee for their lives.

So unexpected was the alarm, that the people did not seem to understand
what the danger was. Tornadoes are frequent in that western country, and
some hearing the roar of the flood and thinking that the danger that
threatened them was the wind, rushed to the caves which they had made for
shelter from tornadoes, and these poor people were soon drowned by the
flood.

Others stopped to save what they could, and they, too, were caught by the
water.

Very soon after the alarm was given, a great wave of water came sweeping
down the valley.

It is described as having been thirty feet high and one mile broad.

It swept everything before it, toppling over the houses like cardboard
boxes. The terrified people climbed into trees, and clutched at anything
within reach, to save themselves.

The rush of the water lasted till ten o'clock, then it ceased, and finally
began to subside.

The sudden flood was due to a cloud-burst, which is a great fall of rain
coming down without warning over a very small area of land, the contents
of the whole cloud being discharged at once.

This mass of water rushing into the already swollen river made it burst
its banks, and sweep over the surrounding country.

It is said that about one hundred persons have been drowned, and two
thousand rendered homeless.

* * * * *

There is hopeful news for us of the floods in the Mississippi Valley.

The river is falling slightly in some districts, and it is hoped that the
floods will have entirely gone down in the next ten days.

The distress is terrible, however. In some places the river is sixteen
miles wide, and it will take a long time for such a quantity of water to
drain off.

Below New Orleans, for a distance of fifty miles, it is said that the
country is entirely