American Notes: Disasters

No one dreams of a wet Christmas, but that's what it was for thousands of Texans last week. Record-breaking December rains sent more than half a dozen rivers overflowing their banks, flooding homes, inundating farmland and drowning cattle in the central and southeastern parts of the state. The fast- rising waters left at least 15 people dead and caused damage estimated in the millions.

Texans tried to keep the flood from dampening their seasonal spirits. More than 1,000 people in Dallas had Christmas dinner at Red Cross mobile kitchens, where they received special holiday gifts: scrub brushes, buckets and mops. In the Colorado River community of Wharton, more than a dozen flood victims spent the holiday in a school gym. "This is a Christmas I'll remember, all right," remarked Evelyn Shanklin, 89. "I didn't have to cook."