The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-06-30 00:00:00

SEVERE STORMS.

very severe storm of thunder and ligntning,
accompanied by torrents of rain, passed over Alder-
shot Camp and town on Monday. During the morn-
ing it raged over the adjacent common, but at half-
past two burst with great violence over the town,
whilst torrents of rain fell, washing immense
quantities of gravel from the roads and flooding
the parade grounds. Shortly before five o'clock on
Monday a terrific thunderstorm broke over the
Wycombe :district of Buckinghamshire, and a large
tract of country in East Berks. The lightning
was extremely vivid and the peals of thunder
were unusually loud. In the village of Thorn-
borough the windows of the parish church are almost
totally wrecked, and in one house over 60 panes of
glass were broken. Great damage has been done to
the crops for miles round. Whilst a thunderstorm
was at its height on Monday afternoon, some plate-
layers working in Betchwood-park, near Dorking,
were startled by a singularly vivid flash of lightning
and it was directly afterwards discovered that three
bullocks which had been grazing in the park had been
killed by the lightning. The animals, which were very
valuable, were the property of Lord Francis Hope.
During a heavy thunderstorm which burst over the
district of Chichestsr on Monday morning a young man
standieg in a meadow was struck by lightning and
killed. At the National Schoolrooms at Emsworth,
the windows were struck by lightning and broken,
while in the shop of Mr. J. Wosdell a whole shelf of
fancy goods was struck and shattered. The severest
thunderstorm experienced for years broke over Car-
diff on Monday evening. The mast of a schooner in
the West Dock was split by lightning, and the crew
had a narrow escape. Trees in Rothesay-garden near
the docks, were rooted up, and others stripped of their
branches. Hailstones of great size fell, and did great
damage to greenhouses and places with glass roofs.
Various casualties of a more or less serious character
are reportsd from other parts of the country.
On Tuesday evening, shortly after seven o'clock,
the atmosphere in the metropolis and its suburbs
underwent a very sudden change when dense black
clouds, indicating an approaching storm, were seen
rising in the east. The under current was from the
west-south-west, and in less than twenty minutes the
metropolis was enveloped in darkness. Rain descended
in torrents, accompanied by sheet lightning and dis-
tant rumbling of thunder. As thamembers of Parlia-
2nent were leaving the House of Commons for dinner
It was discovered that the members' entrance at West-
minster Hall and the Star Court were completely
inundated by the still prevailing storm, and
great inconvenience was experienced. At eight
o'clock the storm passed away to the west-
ward, when the wind suddenly shifted to
the south-west. The lightning became more vivid,
but the claps of thunder were only slight. The rain,
however, still continued, and caused some damage in
the low-lying districts in London. Subsequently a
sewer in the Strand became choked, causing a tem-
porary flooding of the roadway.
During a violent thunderstorm on Monday night
Mrs. Ellen Stockholm, wife of a tax-collector at
Mitcheltroy, about three miles from Monmouth, was
struck dead by lightning.
A landslip was caused by the rain on the Wye
Valley Railway, which delayed the last train from
Bristol about three hours.

A thunderstorm of great severity broke over Col-
chester on Monday about midnight, and continued
without intermission until half-past seven o'clock on
Tuesday morning. The lightning was very vivid,
and the thunder seemed to terrify everybody. The
deluge of rain burst the sewers, and flooded private
houses, and early on Tuesday morning people were
wading about in Waldon-road waist-deep in water.
Numerous instances of the lightning having struck
houses and buildings have come to hand, but
fortunately no loss of life is yet recorded, though
several extremely narrow escapes occurred. At Stain.
way, about two miles from Colchester, a house
occupied by an independent gentleman named
Rogers was struck. The lightning seems to have
passed down the chimney, and to have struck a large
mirror in a bedroom, half of which was thrown on the
bed in which Miss Rogers was sleeping. A chimney
at 1, Elstow-terrace, Creffield-road, was completely
demolished. At Fingringhoe, about four miles from
Colchester, the lightning struck a barn on a farm
occupied by Mr. Stannard in a marvellous manner.
The barn was cleft exactly in half, as if by a gigantic
saw. The barn was set on fire, and the flames
spread to two stacks in close proximity, which,
together with the barn, were destroyed, notwith-
standing the efforts of two fire-brigades who went
from Colchester.

A severe thunderstorm passed over Leicester on
Tuesday morning, rain and hail falling heavily for
half an hour. At Belgrave the lightning struck a
stable, doing considerable damage, and other slight
accidents are also reported in the district. The
weather was afterwards extremely hot.
_

On Tuesday morning, shortly after six o'clock, a
terrific thunderstorm broke over the Rochester dis-
trict, and the city was completely deluged with rain,
the drains being totally inadequate to carry off so
extraordinary a fall. The cellars of business
premises and the basements of private dwellings were
flooded in all the low-lying parts, and on all hands
the operations of pumping out the water are still
going on. The damage done is very great. The
lightning struck the high chimney-stack of a house
in Cross-street, Strood Ward, driving bricks and
tiles through the roof and forcing the stone mantel-
piece of one of the bedrooms occupied by Mrs.
Essall a widow, into the middle of the room, the
escape of the woman from serious injury being mar-
vellous, but she is now suffering considerably from
shock. In the next street, at the shop of Mr. Tuck,
the electric fluid struck the door-knob, which was
forced inward and struck Mrs. Tuck with consider-
able force as she was proceeding through the passage
way, some distance from the door.

A disastrous accident is reported from Brzezie, in
Galicia. While the bishop of the district was cele-
brating Mass on Tuesday the church was struck by
lightning, three persons being killed, 30 severely in-
jured, and 200 receiving slight injuries.

A telegram from Mexico, published by one of the
New York newspapers, gives particulars of the ter-
rible effects of the recent floods. These inundations,
which were due to unprecedented rains, followed
partly the line of the Mexican Central, and were par-
ticularly disastrous at Leon and Silao. The adobe
houses at both places were speedily undermined by
the waters, which rose suddenly in the dead of night,
and soon fell in ruins upon their sleeping inmates.
It is estimated that as many as 700 people perished
in the two towns, 2000 houses being destroyed. The
loss of property is estimated at two million dollars.
Other towns were also badly damaged. Another
telegram from El Paso Texas, published at St. Louis,
says that information has reached that town that as
many as 1500 perished in the inundated districts in
Mexico. A thousand bodies have actually been found.
For a hundred miles the railway is impassable. The
town of Leon, adds the telegram, is for the most part
in ruins.