70 Years Ago
July 1948
The Allen County Red Cross surveyed Iola yesterday and estimated that water had reached the inside of 100 Iola homes. Those dwellings were in about 25 square blocks of the south and west portion of the city.
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The Allen County Red Cross had registered 73 families for flood relief by noon today.
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Water had surrounded about 30 or more homes without getting inside. Farm acreage covered by the floodwaters was tentatively set at 35,000 by Red Cross leaders. About 22,000 acres are crop land. The Red Cross has set up headquarters at the rear of the Northrup Building on West Jackson Street and will be open for the indefinite future.
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26 Iola still had a major flood today. The river remained about three miles wide here, having fallen only to a level of 20.40 feet at 7 a.m. Studying the health and sanitation situation, city officials said the city water had been tested and is safe. There is still danger from debris filth and livestock carcasses remaining. The stench is sickening.
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The Community Building in Riverside Park had water two feet deep in the building.
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Bob Lacy, Iola High School senior, qualified yesterday for a place in the national junior golf tournament at Ann Arbor, Mich., by finishing third in a field of 14 competing in elimination rounds at the Lakewood course in Kansas City. The national tournament will be held Aug. 11-14.
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29 Spraying of the flooded area in and near Iola by plane may begin sometime tomorrow. City officials arranged a contract yesterday with the Anderson Crop Service of Kansas City, Kan., to cover 2,000 acres of ground with a DDT oil spray to kill mosquitoes and other insects. The cost will be $2,900.
