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- NATION, Page 25American NotesOHIODisaster Along The Wegee
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- The deluge of rain began as dusk fell over the Appalachians
- in eastern Ohio. By 11 p.m. 5 1/2 in. had pounded the foothills
- and cascaded into the hollows. In Shadyside, a village of 4,300
- people along the Ohio River, residents were unaware that in the
- darkness a 40-ft. wall of water had risen in Wegee Creek, which
- is usually ankle deep, and was rolling toward them. It hit with
- enough force to knock frame houses off their foundations, carry
- mobile homes downstream and buckle the concrete walls of a
- tavern. One patron was carried away by the water; another
- survived by clinging to a bar stool. Not far away, the
- onrushing water smashed into the house of Robert and Rose
- Ramsey, crushing the woman.
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- The flash flood also turned nearby Pipe Creek into a
- torrent, damaging 50 buildings. Half of one house was found
- lodged in a bridge, 20 ft. above the receding water. As a dazed
- man looked for his home, a searcher observed, "He doesn't know
- his family is dead." No one was certain how many of the 52
- people listed as missing might have survived. But by week's end
- 18 bodies had been found.
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