Eleven Lives Claimed By
by Northwest Floods
Missoula, Mont., Dec. 23. OP)— ]
The last means of travel between this'
city and Spokane, the Clarks Fork
highway, was closed today when a
highway bridge over the Thompson!
river near Thompson Falls collapsed
and was washed away in the flqod.
By the Associated Press.
While the list of known dead 1
mounted to 11, thousands of persons]
have been reported driven from theii
homes, property damaged t
tent of millions of dollars, railroad
and motor traffic held up, water
traffic harried and telephone and
telegraph communications disrupted
in one of the worst rainstorms ever
to visit the northwest. The states ofi
Oregon, Washington, Idaho and west-!
ern Montana and the province of
British Columbia were caught in the
flood.

drowned in the rain-swollen Yp.kima;
river near Granger, Wash., last night(
when   thfi ! .        a   as   theyj
were attempting to retrieve groceries
from their inundated home, abandoned last week. Edward Bennt, who
heard their cries for help, swam out
to their assistance and tied a line
around Mrs. Wojciechowski's waist .
but the rope broke.
At Thompson Falls, in northwestern Montana, a mother and her 4-
year-old child nearly drowned when
their automobile skidded into a
swollen creek. The father, Ed Hart-1
man, saved his wife and their child
after they had been swept 100 feet
down the creek. The road, which
parallels the creek, was undermined!
by the flood and collapsed, sending1
the Hartman car into the  creek.
Communication between Thompson
! Falls and Sandpoint, Idaho, was Impaired when a telephone line was
broken. Washouts caused power line
trouble in that district.