The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-07-10 00:00:00

GREAT STORM AND FLOOD.

(From the Manchester Guardian.)
During Wednesday afternoon last, an extremely terrific
thunder-storm, with an almost unprecedentedly heavy fall of
hail and large pieces of ice, several inches in circumference,
and followed by torrents of rain, passed over a considerable
part of this county, a few miles to the north of this town; but
from a number of our correspondents having omitted, in
their communications, to notice the time of its commence-
ment and continuance, we arc unable to state the direction
in which the storm passed from one point to another. We
are not equally deficient in information as to the disastrous
consequences of this conflict of the elements. In one or two
places, persons have been struck by lightning. It is said,
that at Lancaster one man was killed by it. At Preston, a
man who was holding a crowbar received a severe shock,
but escaped without serious personal injury; and at several
places, cattle and birds were killed by the electric fluid. The
hail, and large pieces of ice, of irregular form, had done
great damage to gardens, conservatories, and to many facto-
ries and large works, especially to their sky-lights. In many
places, scarcely a whole pane of glass has been left in the
upper windows of large mills, &c ; and the damage, from this
cause alone, in Rochdale, Bolton, Bury, and their neighbour-
hoods, will be very considerable. But the most serious loss
of life, and the most extensive injuries to property, have
been the result of the floods, produced in the small streams
and rivers which take their rise in the hills north of Roch-
dale and Bolton. These seem to have been filled with fear-
ful rapidity, so that the bridges spanning them were soon
swept down; and, in many cases, the great body of waters
carrying away, before its resistless torrent, the banks of
reservoirs and lodges of water, appears to have speedilyin-
undated the lower lands to a great depth, covering the hay
fields, sweeping away the newly-cutgrass, and doing great in-
jury to buildings, machinery, and property of every descrip-
tion. It will be seen, from the following accounts from
various quarters, that a number of persons have lost their
lives ; the flood having overwhelmed them so rapidly ar to
cut off all chance of escape. Near Barnsley in Yorkshire,
27 boys and girls were drowned in one coal-pit; three men
were, in like manner, overwhelmed by the flood in a coal-pit
in the neighbourhood of Rochdale; a boy was swept from a
stable at Bradley, and drowned; another lad lost his life at
Bolton; and a large number of cattle, sheep, and other ani-
mals, have perished. We subjoin such accounts as we have
been able to collect relating to this disastrous and destruc-
tive storm.—ln this town and the immediate neighbourhood,
but little, comparatively, of the effects of this tremendous
storm were experienced Between half-past three and four
o'clock, there was a thunder storm, and a very smart shower,
which, however, was not ()flung continuance• The effect of
the heavy rains pouring down the small streams tributary to
the !Ewell was, however, to cause the most rapid rise of that
river ever collected. Commencing about six o'clock on
Wednesday evening, it continued risiug, till about nine
o'clock, and then gradually subsided. It is stated that it rose
at the rate of a yard and a half per hour for these three hours,
being about four yards and a half above its usual level at
nine o'clock. It overspread some fields in Lower Brough-
ton, and in some places the haymakers were to be seen busily
engaged, knee deep in water, raking the green newly mown
grass from the flood, which was fast sweeping it away. In
other places, it was with difficulty that the cattle could be
driven home; and a great quantity of new hay, and some
live stock, are said to have been carried away by the flood.
A chest of drawers was seen floating down the river. but its
progress was arrested at 'l'hrostle Nest. At the old (now
the Victoria) bridge, the workmen employed in laying the
foundation for the abutments, had some difficulty in making
their way good, before the flood came upon them. Near the
New Bailey bridge, a body was seen floating, which, from its
state of decomposition, is supposed to have been in the water
for months, and 4o have been washed from the bed of the
river, by the rushing action of the flood.

ROCHDALE AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
On Wednesday last, this town was visited by one of the
most terrible and destructive thunder storms which ever hap-
pened in this part of the country. The morning was ex-
tremely warm, and the atmosphere close and sultry. The
stillness of the surrounding scene foreboded a tempest near
at hand. About two o'clock in the afternoon, the most vivid
flashes of lightning began to dart in quick succession from
the dark clouds which obscured the face of the sky. Soon
after, the rain began to fall in torrents, mingled with hail
and large irregular pieces of ice. Some of the hail stones
measured 1,1 inches in diameter, which would be nearly four
inches in circumference. The sceptical may have some no-
tion of their size, when they are informed of the damage done
to the factories in the town and neighbourhood. Messrs.
Lomax had 8(X) panes of glass broken in their factory, the
chief part of which were sky-lights; Mr. Henry Kersall,
1,850 panes in his factory, warehouse, and greenhouse; all
the sky-lights, and many windows, in the new mill of Mr.
Briefly, were broken; Mr. King, in Oldham-road, who had
an extensive loom.shop attached to his factory, had 3000
panes broken; and so on, in proportion to the extent of his
property, has every person suffered by this destructive storm.
Several buildings were struck by the lightning. Mr. Smith's
chimney, Cheetham-street, had an opening about four inches
wide cut in it, without displacing the adjoining bricks. The
belfry of Mr. Howard's factory, immediately adjoining, was
struck by the electric fluid, but without doing any material
damage, except displacing a few bricks and stones' A pigeon,
when on the wing, was struck by the lightning, and fell life-
less into the street. The chimney at Messrs. Petrie's iron
works received some damage front the lightning. But the
worst yet remains behind. The storm had not raked an hour
before the river rose to an alarming height. The Spodden,
a small rivulet, which takes its rise between Whitworth and
Bacup, and meets the river Roach about 2(X) yards below the
town, bore every thing down before it by three o'clock. So
sudden was its rise, that it enclosed half a dozen children and
some men, who had gone into the field to watch it, before
they were aware of their perilous situation. Retreat was im-
possible; the field was surrounded with water, and the ground
upon which they stood every moment became narrower and
narrower, till, at last, all was one sheet of water. The little
urchins had now retreated into a thorn hedge, where their
situation became truly painful. Every moment they were
expected to be washed by the raging element from this last
place of refuge. The most lively interest wasexcited for their
fate by hundreds of spectators who witnessed the scene.
Though property of every description came floating down the
flood—barrels, planks, trees torn up by the roots, wool
pieces, carts, skips, timber, &c., yet every one scented ab-
sorbed in the fate of these children. The water was at its
highest a little before four o'clock, when it began to subside.
At half-past four, a man plunged in on horseback, and
brought the children to land by two at a time. The water,
at the deepest part he had to cross, might be about a yard
and a half. Every bridge from Whitworth to Rochdale has
neen carried away by the flood. Messrs. Tweedale, at Broad-
ley, have suffered considerably front the destructive effects of
the flood Their dye-works are situated on a brook called
the Healey Hall Brook, which, shortly before one o'clock on
Wednesday, contained scarcely any water. About one
o'clock, however, the storm commenced with most terrific
claps of thunder, and fearfully vivid lightning. It continued
till about half-past two with but little intermission, accom-
panied by a storm of hail and pieces of ice of extraordinary
size, which speedily destroyed all the windows in the upper
floors of the works. The weight and pressure of the flood
burst the bank of one of the lodges, and the whole force of
the swollen stream coming against the. gas-house of the works,
which was a small stone building, carried by an arch over the
brook, and situated about a hundred yards higher than the
dyehouse, actually uplifted it, and bore the building—con-
taining three retorts, weighing from 24 to 30cyrt. each—down
the stream, and upon its surface, till it came in contact with
the upper end of the dyehouse, which it struck with such force
as to drive in part of the wall, thus giving entrance to the
flood. The water speedily covered the lower part of the build-
ing, carrying all before it; and when it forced it way through
the lower end of the building, it swept away before it about
130 bales and packs of wool, some of them weighing seven
cwt. each. Mr. John Tweedale, his son, and eight or ten of
the hands, were some time in a situation of considerable peril.
They were in the drying stove, whence they made their way
to a room, and Mr. Tweedale broke the window and called
for help. A number of the hands outside at length succeeded,
by means of planks, ropes, &c. in bringing them all safe out
of the drying stove ; but when they landed them, they were
neatly up to the neck in water. Four horses, in a stable,
were with difficulty rescued; a man broke a window, and
when he entered, he found the animals up to the shoulders in
water. In a shippon adjoing this stable, a little boy, son of
the cowkeeper, had crept for safety. He was heard scream-
ing, and some persons who were going to his assistance saw
him attempt to catch at a pole ; but he was immediately
swept down the stream, and drowned. His body has not yet
been found. A large cart at the bottom end of the ware-
house was swept away ; a large boiler of ten horses' power,
which stood outside the warehouse, was also carried away by
the flood, and a stack of between 70 and 80 tons of hay, be-
neath a French barn. In the smithy of the establishment
nothing was left but the stithy. A gietill quantity (probably
1;0 tons) of sawn inch and inch and half boards for flooring,
which were piled in two large steers, were entirely swept
away. Such were the force of the flood that must of the bales
and packs of wool were burst ; and we believe only two or
three whole bales have been recovered, and a very small
quantity of the timber. About a hundred of the hands were
engaged during Thursday in collecting the scattered property
of their employers, but with little success. A gentleman
named Cross, who was fishing in the brook, before the storm
arose, was detained five hours before he'could cross it; and
he states, that the. water rose at one point not less than four
yards in twenty minutes! The old mill at Healey Hall
Bottoms, which was used for finishing flannels, is stated to
have been entirely carried away, as well as a number of small
bridges across the streams in that neighbourhood. At the
new mill of Messrs. James Schofield and Sons, at Buckley,
near Rochdale, on the Hainerbrook, all the panes in the
upper floor of the mill were broken, and a large, long, thick
mall was washed down. At Belfield Hall, near Rochdale, at the
print-works of Messrs. Benecke & Co. upwards of 200 panes of
glass were broken by the hail, and part of the lodge bank
was washed away. Several parts of walls were washed down
at Makeant Mill, about three miles below Rochdale. At the
fulling mill at Meauwood, belonging to Mr. James Gibson,
a great quantity of pieces and dyewood were carried away by
the flood. At Spotland Bridge, 200 yards lower on the same
river, the whole of Mr. Whitaker's premises were swept away
within less than two hours from the commencement of the
storm. Three men stood for a long time on the steam en-
gine, surrounded by water. Mr. Whitaker is the greatest
sufferer in the neighbourhood : his dyehouse, his warehouse,
his stove, or dryhouse (the building where the wet flannels
are dried after being dyed), his all, the labour of a life, are a
wreck. This is not all ; ,I(X) pieces of flannels, some in a
finished, others in an unfinished state, together with a quan-
tity of wool and indigo, and other dye-woods, amounting to
£BOO. were borne along by the raging torrent. Some cot-
tages adjoining these premises had the chairs and other fur-
niture driven through the windows by the flood. Above Mr.
Whittaker's dyelsouse, a large and uncommonly firm bridge,
of two arches, was nearly swept away. At this place the
mischief was considerably increased by the passage being
blockaded tip with large trees, which the water had brought
down from Healey Hall Many barrels were washed away
from the Spotland Brewery. Messrs. R. and Wm. Turner's
mill, at Black Pits, about three miles from Rochdale, has
also received considerable damage from the flood. Many
others have had the lowest room in the mill or factory laid
under water, and the machinery spoiled. In numerous in-
stances, mill dams and wears have been borne down by the
flood, and fields of hay grass laid under water, and covered
with sand or mud. Nothing like the extent of the injury
is yet ascertained. Several lives have been lost. At a little
distance from this place three men were caught in a coal pit,
and had not time to escape from a watery grave. They re-
main yet buried in the pit. By three o'clock on the Thurs-
day morning, several cart load of pieces, wool, tubs, barrels,
trees, and other articles were gathered up in the fields, near
the Gas Works, which had been covered with water. Many
of the pieces were torn into shreds, and so injured as to be or
little value. The damage done within a few unites of Roch-
dale cannot be estimated at much less than 1;80,000.
'the
is
somewhat remarkable that, at two miles distant, on the
southern side of the town, scarcely any rain fell; though the
streets were six or seven inches deep in water, and had all
,
the appearance of a river for nearly an hour. 'l 'he greatest
part of the rain fell between Whitworth and Rochdale. At
Lit tleborough, Heywood, and Middleton, there was a scarcely
a shower.