The News And Views

Thousands Fight Emergency Battle Against Missouri

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Truman today asked seven Midwestern governors to meet with him at Omaha tomorrow to discuss measures for dealing with the flood emergency.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Thousands of emergency workers fought a desperate battle on dikes and levees today to ward off the Missouri River's mightiest onslaught in history.

Already the maddened river had reduced several communities in its rich valley to ghost towns and driven an estimated 17,000 families from their homes.

And it was not alone in spreading misery and terror. The Mississippi too had swept to record crests in Minnesota and Wisconsin while in other states smaller streams packed punches.

The Red Cross estimated that in an eight-state area where the waters are raging a total of 18,939 families and some 76,000 persons have had to flee their homes.

This figure covers the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas and Missouri.

While misery grew in the valley and millions of tons of rich top soil sloshed downriver, men and machines at Omaha and Council Bluffs, Ia., combined population 366,000 toiled to build up the flood walls and dikes.

There was a somewhat disheartening report from the weatherman. He was predicting showers for Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The job the twin cities faced is best described by two men who are leading the battle.

Maj. Gen. Lewis A. Pick, chief of Army Engineers: "The greatest flood the white man has ever seen on the Missouri River."

Brig. Gen. Don G. Shingler, Missouri River Division Engineers: "We're in a hell of a lot of trouble. The river is coming with a rip and a roar."

All along the Missouri Valley where the river had struck to date, man has been a loser. Only in the matter of saving human life has he been winning. His lands and his homes have mercilessly mauled. Army engineers estimate 1.5 million acres are under the waters of the Missouri and its tributaries.

The damage so far has soared to untold millions of dollars.

Swirling downstream with record-breaking force, the mighty Mississippi continued to take a mounting toll in the St. Paul lowlands.

Although the crest is not expected for another 48 hours, thousands already are homeless.

Fears of record damage to downriver cities increased hourly as the water level rose in St. Paul, only 350 miles from the river's source in the Minnesota north woods country.

Gov. C. Elmer Anderson said after an aerial survey yesterday the "Father of Waters" and its tributary Minnesota River were "dealing out a major disaster."

Continuing to inch upward, the Mississippi is expected to crest Thursday at 22.5 feet—8½ feet above flood stage. Early today, gauges registered just under the 22-foot level. That was two feet above the highest ever recorded here since 1881.