Hundreds dead , million homeless , and American floods are still rising . Fire , fever and looters threatened cities . Harassed by the steadily rising waters , but oil fires , fever epidemic outbreaks of looting , farmers and city dwellers of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys are facing death in the worst floods for 10 years . Nearly 400 people are estimated to have died and 1 million are homeless . Aeroplanes are dropping supplies of Federal troops are reinforcing the National Guard to put down looting and to evacuate flooded areas . Photo shows , evacuating a family in flooded Newport , Kentucky , are in the area which has suffered most from the floods . 27 January 1937