oute.
In Newport there were already under water nearly one hundred and twenty
square blocks, located in the section along the south bank of the Ohio
River. The other towns, Bromley, Dayton and Ludlow, were still without
outside communication, but reports from there were that there was no
immediate need of assistance.

THE CRISIS

The river continued to mount. It rose two-tenths of a foot during Monday
night and early Tuesday the stage was 69.8 feet. The weather forecaster,
Devereaux, said he expected the river to rise another tenth, after which
it probably would recede. Up-river points reported the river either
stationary or falling slowly.

At midnight Tuesday the river began to fall. The whole city breathed a
sigh of relief. The Government stated that the river would be inside its
banks within a week.

FLOOD DAMAGE

The direct and indirect damage caused in Cincinnati by the flooding of
the river-front and low-lying residential sections was very great. An
estimate of the indirect loss can never be made, while the direct loss
is placed at more than $2,000,000.

Across the river in the Kentucky suburbs conditions were deplorable.
Estimates were that one thousand homes there had been inundated and that
more than four thousand persons were homeless.

CHAPTER X

THE FLOOD IN WESTERN OHIO

DISTRESS IN BELLEFONTAINE--PIQUA DELUGED--TROY A HEAVY
SUFFERER--MIAMI ON THE RAMPAGE AT MIDDLETOWN--HAMILTON HARD
HIT--BIG RESERVOIRS THREATENING--OLENTANGY RIVER A LAKE AT
DELAWARE--FLOOD AT SPRINGFIELD--NEW RICHMOND UNDER WATER.

The rushing torrent of water that swept down the Miami River, surging
over Dayton, devastated a score or more of towns in its mad course from
the creeks around Bellefontaine to the point southwest of Cincinnati
where the waters of the Miami merge with those of the Ohio.

DISTRESS IN BELLEFONTAINE

Cries of distress arose from Bellefontaine on Wednesday, March 26th. At
that time millions of gallons of water were pounding against the banks
of the Lewiston reservoir, fifteen miles from Bellefontaine, and it was
feared that if the increasing flood should burst the banks the lives of
every inhabitant of the Lower Miami Valley would be imperiled.

The immense reservoir at Lewiston did burst its banks between Lake View
and Russell's Point and swept through the great Miami Valley like a
tidal wave. It was this vast quantity of water, added to the already
overflowing river, that i