According to the New Orleans Daily Picayune of 3 May, thirty-one of Louisiana's fifty-three parishes (home to some 375,000 people) were entirely or partially underwater. The Picayune also reported that breaches at Hushpakana[sic.] and Bolivar, Mississippi, had "transformed the Yazoo Valley into an inland lake."[3] Mayor Louis A. Wiltz of New Orleans published a circular on 30 May addressed to "the Mayors of thirty-four large American cities" seeking contributions of cash and provisions for relief efforts. In the circular, the Flood of 1874 was described as the highest on record.