Crossing the river from the town it had desolated it bore away half of a soapstone bluff many feet in height and left the other half standing unmarred. Miss Mary Watson, a visitor in the Stabler home, was crossing a hallway when the tornado struck. She was swept through the hallway and to the rear of the house, where she was blown against a tree and her back broken. PITIABLE CHAOS In the business neighborhood everything was swept away except two grocery stores. They were thrown open as dispensaries of free provisions. No semblance of order could be brought from the pitiable chaos of the wrecked town until Sunday afternoon, when cool heads prevailed and the survivors and visitors who offered assistance were regularly organized into committees to attend to the needs of the sufferers. Troops from Fort Oglethorpe, with hospital corps and supplies for the relief of the sufferers arrived Sunday night and administered to the needs of the injured and homeless. THE HERO OF LOWER PEACHTREE Tributes to the bravery of Professor Griffin, a survivor of the tornado, were paid by many who visited the scene. Professor Griffin, after having been blown hundreds of feet from his home, returned bruised and bleeding to the center of the town and worked unceasingly to relieve the injured and to quiet survivors, insane with grief and excitement. Peter Milledge, whose wife and two children perished when their home was destroyed, went mad. EXTENT OF DAMAGE The Red Cross agent who investigated the situation at Lower Peachtree on Wednesday, March 26th, reported that sixty-eight were injured in the tornado which swept that section and that two hundred were destitute. CHAPTER XXVI THE FLOOD IN NEW YORK HUNDREDS OF HOMES IN BUFFALO FLOODED--THE PLIGHT OF ROCHESTER--VALLEY OF THE GENESEE PARALYZED--DRIVEN FROM HOMES AT OLEAN--WORST FLOOD IN HISTORY OF HORNELL--LAKE COUNTRY PARALYZED WITH FEAR--WATER COVERS PART OF BINGHAMTON--GLENS FALLS BRIDGE DOWN--DISTRESS IN FORT EDWARD--BIG PAPER COMPANY IN TROUBLE--HOMES ABANDONED IN SCHENECTADY--HIGH WATERS IN TROY--WATERVLIET FLOODED--ALBANY IN THE GRIP OF THE FLOOD. A tremendous downfall of rain, March 24th and 25th, developed some of the worst floods known in fifty years. Vast areas of New York were under water and hundreds of homes were swept away. On the night of March 25th the entire area of South Buffalo was under water, street car traffic was suspended and rowboats were plying the streets. The Buffalo River and Cazenovia Creek had both overflowed their banks with a rush at ten o'clock in the morning, and the dwellers in the South Park section of the city had no chance to escape. Hundreds of homes were soon flooded. Firemen were sent out in boats to rescue those who desired to leave. Hundreds of workers were marooned in distant parts of the city, unable to reach their homes.