The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-17 00:00:00

THE LATE STORMS.

About two o'clock on Friday morning last the
electric fluid struck a portion of the goods shed, at
the Bricklayers' Arms station of the South-Eastern
Railway, and caused so severe a concussionth.
i that
the porters who were unloading the train cont m-
ing fruit for the metropolitan markets instantly
jumped off the platform in a state of the greatest
Mr.
terror. The chief officers on duty, Biggs and
Mr. Wells, examined the iron roof, and immediately
ordered a policeman to prevent all persons from
walking under it. This order fortunately was
strictly obeyed, as about two hours afterwards a
portion of the roof, about 350 feet in length, toge- ;
ther with the massive girders and iron pillars, fell
with a tremendous crash, the fragments completely
covering 25 waggons. Notice of the occurrence was
forthwith given to the general manager, Mr. Ash-
croft, by Mr. Noden, the goods manager, who had
jest returned from the continent, and a body of 100
labourers was immediately employed to remove the
fallen. materials. In consequence of the terrific
storm on Friday evening this operation was con-
siderably delayed. In the course of Saturday,
however, the wreck was completely cleared away.
No damaged occurred, except the loss of the shed,
nor were the trucks seriously injured. Had it not
been for the precautions taken by the officers on
duty, probably a serious loss of life would have
occurred, there being on an average about 50 men
continually at work on the platform. Immediately
the roof fell in, Mr. Noden ordered the muster-ro'l
to be called, and no one was missing. Although
the accident caused serious inconvenience, the
goods trains left the station at their appointed
times, and the market trains arrived on the follow-
ing (Saturday) morning, and their contents were
despatched to their destination as usual. This is
the fourth occasion on which a portion of the
original roof of the Bricklayers' Arms station has
fallen within the last 12 years.
In the county of Essex the market-gardeners'
grounds were flooded to an alarming extent, and
many low-lying parts were inundated by the heavy
rains wh ch fell on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Several lofty trees were struck by lightning, and
the roofs of many houses were severely damaged
by the electric fluid. In the small villages of
Epping, Claigwell, Malden, Barking, Dagenham,
Ilford, Brentwood, Hornchurch, -Lea, Ongar, Rom-
ford, Stratford, Walthamstow, and Woodford, the
farmers have been great sufferers, and their crops
have been damaged. The Colchester line of the
Eastern Counties Railway in various parts pre-
sented an unusual and singular appearance, more
particularly at Bury St. Edmunds, Norwich, Yar-
mouth and Lrwestoft. The usual excursion trains
on the Cambridge and Colchester lines were rather
delayed by the violence of the storm, but no serious
accident occurred.

In the suburban districts of Hackney, Homerton,
Old Ford, Kingsland, Bow, Haggerstone, Dalston,
Shacklewell-green, Stoke Newington, and other
eastern parts of the meteopolis, the effects of the
storm were more severely felt by the owners of pro-
perty, who have suffered by the floods.
The residence of Mr. Nichols, the builder, of No.
25, Strathmore-terrace, Back-road, St. Paul's,
Shadwell, was struck by lightning. A large stone
chimney was forced from the brickwork of the roof,
and carded by a sudden gust of wind across the
street int the back premises of an opposite neigh-
bour, by which the roof of an outhouse was par-
tially destroyed, but no personal injury was sus-
tained by the inmates. The roofs of several
buildings in the same neighbourhood were also
similarly damaged.
At half-past 11 o'clock on Friday there was a
terrific discharge of lightning, by which the south-
east pinnacle of St. Michael's Church, Stamford,
was instantaneously struck down. The church of
St. Michael is a modern structure, erected in 1832.
It is situate in the centre of the town. The south-
east pinnacle, which received the electric fluid, was
composed of a mass of masonry, weighing about
15cwt. ; the iron clumps or ties by which the work
was bound together, served as partial conductors.
At every break in their arrangement a series of
disrnp ture discharges of the electric fluid took place
in lateral directions, driving out large masses of
the stonework, spreading them over the roof of the
nave and churchyard, doing considerable damage
to the roofing and tombstones. The effect of the
fluid when it reached the base of the pinnacle,
from not meeting with a ready conducting me-
dium, was to uplift the whole mass, imparting to it
at the same time a kind of circular motion to the
southward, the apex of the pinnacle falling in a line
with its original base, and the base having traver-
sed about the eighth part of the circle, fell into
the roof of the tower. Immediately at the base of
the pinnacle there is a three-inch iron spent or
tube erected to convoy the water from the
tower-roof. This iron tube the electric fluid
entered, and finding through it an unopposed
channel, passed down the tower, and finally ,
into the earth, without doing more damage.
The iron tube or sp-ait'ng in this instance, and
by mere accident, acted tee part of a lightning con-
ductor, and served to protect the other parts of
the tower from most serious injury, if not entire
destruction.
On Friday the town of Retford was inundated
with water to an extent that has had no parallel for
the last 62 years. In at least half-a-dozen places
the water rose above the basement floors of
the houses, and in Spring-gardens and the lo-
cality near the railway-station persons were taken
out of their houses in boats. The deluge swept
quite through the market-place, which is in the
centre of the town, and even invaded the church-
yard, which is still higher up. From Retford to
Bawtry, along the course of the Idle, and on both
sides of the Great Northern Railway, the lands
were more or less submerged, and all kinds of crops,
wheat, barley, oats, beans, turnips, and potatoes,
were saturated, not only the lowlands being
flooded, but the highlands also, to an extent un-
known before. At Bawtry all the flat country in
the direction of the Trent was like an immense lake.
At Doncaster the river Don overflowed and covered
the adjacent lands with water. A bank erected on
the north side of the stream by the river Don
and South Yorkshire Railway Company some'
years ago was cut on Saturday evening by a
party of men, mostly mariners and inhabitants of
that part of the town which is exposed to the
severest effects of the Don floods. During
the whole of Saturday quantities of wheat, oats,
hay, ch., were carried down the river, having been
swept out of the fields where harvest operations have
been wrested by the late heavy rains. At ex-
borough, a few miles above Doncaster, the flood is
the highest recorded, and several head of cattle
have been lost.

A great fall of earth was caused by the rain at
Scarborough, on the eastern faco of the Castle-hill.
A semicircular piece of about half an acre has gone
sheer down, leaving a precipitous face from the top
to the bottom, a depth of well nigh 200 feet. The
qu %arty of earth and rock which has fallen cinnot
be leas than a hundred thousand tons in weight,
and is probably much more. There was a large
cavern there, which was entered from the castle-
yard, at no great depth below its surface. It was
regarded as a curirdeify by the people of Scar-
borough, and when the 28th Regiment had an en-
campment in the castle-yard, three years ago, the
officers sometimes had their mess in the cavern.

This rude banqueting ball has perished along with
the portion of the cliff which has fallen, and my
have been the cause of this fall, by filling with a
weight of water beyond the teiacity of the cliff 'to
resift.

Man hester and its neighbourhood were visited
hills forming the back-ground of thelandscape. This
with heavy thunderstorms on Thursday, Fri- Position affects it to a certain degree, and, conse-
day, and Saturday morning, resulting in the flood- quewlY) the amount of rain is a little above the aver-
ing of the rivers t 3 a height which has not been age, the fall last year having 27.18 in. Still, August
known for many years and a serious loss of life and is not generally a wet month, and its average for
the last two years has been only 1.321 inches. This
property. Heavy rains had fallen on the earlier
days of the week, but the first thunderstorm was mouth the rain commenced On the 6th, and be-
on Thursday evening, when the lightning was ex-
tween that date and thel2thtlie amount registered
was 1.925 inches, the barometer meanwhile rangingtremely vivid, coming in triple flashes, and the
rain descended in torrents. During Thursday between 29'5 and 29.9 inches. On the 13th the
night and up to 10 o'clock on Friday morning there fall was .805 inches, and people were beginning to
hope that this was the end of it, and the fine vras a succession of very heavy showers, and the
wea-
rivers Irwell, Irk and Medlock were swollen dur- they returning. The event showed they were sadly
lugi_ the wholeof the day. The most serious storm mistaken. By all accounts
it was fine till nearly
ulwever, four o'clock next morning,
when the storm com-
wFas one which commenced about 10
o'clock 0 menced, and continued till nearly half past six.
riday night and lasted until 2 o'clock
on SatiQ The rain fell in torrents, while the vividness of the
and.peaaa aoyf rorning. The flashes of lightning
hunder followed.each other with un- lightning was terribly grand. As yet there are no
usual rapiaitdamage done by lightning, but the ra-
down converted the deluge of rain that came tidings of
vages of the rain are only too palpable. The
The rivers had ther. streets into pools of water.
deep channels, allee:,l above tha level of their amount registered by the rain-gauge in less than
three hours is almost incredible-3.18 inches. The
flowing their batiks:l many places were over-
Chester and Ellesmere canal has overflowed its
streams have not teenlVi.ny people s these
° high for 30 banks, and in the town all the ordinary
past. The destruction of lice
aa,
~ years insufficient outlets
floods was very imperfectly kno '" property by the were for the carrying off.so large a body
night. A man was drowned in
twillct, up to Sao urday of rain, and the water flowed down the High-street
Victoria-bridge, and several lives ao•ewsell' near the in a stream. Many of the houses in the centre of
the town, where the ground is low, have been com-
been last at Blue-pits by the bursting theoafidto have
reaer pletely flooded, and the damage done is consider-
voir, and higher up the streams it was reported that &de At
done shop in the High sirs et a large pump
lives had been lost, including two boys ,am,,i Was.f
found
auselesis for the removal of the water col-
Robinson and Fox, droweed at Ashton-1111(1,r_ lected
in
requis,tiieoiclel cellars, and the parish engine was put
Lyne. The destruction of property has been very The post-office suffered severeiy,
great in Manchester alone, caused chiefly by the but fortunately, ' • owing to the exertions of the post
overflow of the Medlock. We have heard it vari- master themablg,were uninjured, and the letters
ously estimated at 40,0001. to 50,0001. Among the were delivered at thepublic-ho usual hour. The cellars of a
principal buildings flcoded were the cotton m lls of
the fl a Ilse) the Fox and Goose, were filled, and
Messrs. J. and W. Bellhouse, Messrs. Birley and
of thea„sof the floor above torn
Co., Alderman Barnes, Messrs. Hilton and Co.
stroyed ugspoiled, and some fowls de-
ttlolt-town), Mr. Jones (Mount-street), and the •
The meteorological report
nanc'ver-mill. The most serious loss among these
follows :—Barometer 2,for. the morning is as
oases will probably have accrued to Messrs. W. and 6 inches thermometer
J. &Mouse. In their mill
the water is said to have
• 59 deg. ; wet bulb thernaonaeter, 59 d
risen 3 feet 6 inches above in ofrain. 3.inches; wind, w. ' -eg• ;amount
the level it attained the
•flo.d of last August. The coton mill of Messrs. On Thursday night the electric fluid a' ruck the
Marsd.n at Ancoat-bridge was flooded to the depth Flag Tourer of Windsor Castle, dizpla •
cng
174 3h
about 4
t man on duty had tons of the parapet, but fortunately did
of nine fe3t, and the night
no further i