The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-08-19
STORM IN GREAT BRITAIN.
TERRIFIC RAINS OVER THE BRITISH ISLANDS
SERIOUS DAMAGE DONE TO CROPS. BUILD
INGs, &C.-RAILRoAD COMMUNICATION sUs-
PENDED-FULFILMENT OF HERALD PRE-
DICTIoN.

PENpED-FuLFILMENT OF HERALD PRE-
DICTIoN.
[BY CABLE TO THE HERALD.
LONDON, August 18, 1879.
The warning cabled by the HERALD
Weather Bureau on the 18th, which stated that
"a disturbance will arrive on the British and
attended by gales, rains and lightning; another
is following closely and will develop energy"
has been justified in every particular by the
arrival of the storms in rapid succession in
the following manner, according to the
meteorological charts issued by the London
office. On the 18th, the first disturbance APP
preached the northwestern coasts, and the wind
began blowing from the east and southeast at
nearly all the stations The barometer, which
was high, commenced to fall steadily and the
sky became overcast. On the 18th the barom-
eter marked as low as 1890 inches. and rain
the southeast and east, but increased consider
ably in force, particularly in the north. The
wind began to veer round to the west
OH the 18th, but the weather continued
cloudy and threatening. The pressure,
however, rose and the weather cleared
up on the 18th, only to again become cloudy
and dull A steady fall set in in the barometer
over the whole United Kingdom, the wind
began blowing from the south and heavy rain
disturbance that was to "develop energy" was
approaching. The reports that come in from
different sections of the country state that
the rains have been exceedingly heavy and
destructive. In the neighborhood Of Liverpool
torrents of rain fell steadily for fourteen
hours, causing serious damage. The freshets
caused many sewers to burst on lines of rail
ways. causing great delay to the running Of
trains. At Sheffield a severe thunder storm.
houses that were in course of erection by
washing away their foundations, and the
roads were torn up by the floods. The
lower portion Of the town of Bir-
mingham was flooded, as also were the forests
of Dean and Vale, Gloucester. A heavy storm
of thunder and lightning passed over North
Wales, causing the stoppage of all trains on
the Holyhead line. The Irish mail was obliged
to return TO Chester account Of the flooding
<,f
away. The bridges ut Aber and Mold and the
viaduct mt Landulas were rendered unsafe by
the Storm so that nj. traffic between Bangor
and Chester had to be suspended. The rain
fell heavily for over thirty hours ut Chester,
flooding the whole city and making travelling
almost impossible. The Trent and Derwent
rivers in Derbyshrc have ovcriowed their
banks and flooded all the low lands The
standing wheat crop in that section is
in fact, it is hardly worth cutting, us
il is rotting away fast On Sunday
the rain was very heavy in the vicinity of Lon
don. The weather is beginning to clear up
again. particularly over the southern portion
of these islands, and it is hoped that we shall
have even u shor: term of fine weather to make
up for that of the past few days. The storm
that has passed is said to have been one of the
most destructive experienced over these islands
in many years, and it is yet unknown what
amount of damage has been done by the light
ming and heavy rains in the country districts.