St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-19
FOUR INCHES OF RAIN FELL,
A HALF AN INCH FALLING WITH
IN THE SPACE OF FOUR
MINUTES.
Accompanied by Loud Thunder
and vivid Lightnine 5-Dann-
age by the Storm.

night till 4 o'clock yesterday after
noon, and then it stopped while for
repairs in the clouds. The heavy
thunder, which had kept UP a con-
tinual roar all that time, died away
sullenly and could be heard in the
distance until long after the sky had
become clear in the west. The storm
was severe, not only for little
while, but from the very beginning
till the end, and the display of cleo
trio light in the atmosphere was eX-
tremely jagged and vivid. The
heaviest part OF the rain came about
l 80 o'clock in the morning and the
storm at that hour ragged with such
severity that half of the people in
the city were scared out of their wits.
The rain fell in sheets and many
feared cloud burst of severe pro-
portions. The thunder was like a
continuous rattle of heavy guns and
the lightning shot across the sky
in every direction in the vivid forked
style that makes people shiver with
apprehension.
To make the thing strong, the
wind came UP from the northwest
long before daylight and blew
hurricane for a little while. Shortly
after 2 o'clock there was a slight lull,
which led people to believe that the
storm was dying out. 1t was only a
bluff, however. The storm king had
let go a minute to take a fresh hold,
and then he did let things slip for
all they were worth. A few sections
of the Sky fell out in a heap and hit
the city of st. Paul amidships, turn
ing the streets into running rivers
and the rivers into lakes. The rain
actually came down in such heavy
sheets that one could not see half
way across the street, even with
the aid of powerful electric lights
From 2:1S to 2:22 half an inch Of
rain fell. This is eXtraordinary-hal
an inch of rain in less than five min
utes. 1t is extremely excessive and
will convey but a faint idea of how
things looked when the trouble was
going on in the air.
WASHOUTS WERE NUMEROUS
on the West side, and in other por-
that the SANITY City wasn't washed
down the side of the bluff and lodged
in Swede Hollow, the rain came down
that hard.
One bolt of the swift fluid strayed
away from the mouth of the big Ley
den jar up there and hit the steeple
of the Bohemian church just enough
to knock it into slivers and another
hn1f f011 IL
Michael's. school, but fortunately did
little damage Still a third forked
chain thumped away at the Merriam
Park depot on the Milwaukee road
and set it fire, necessitating the at
tendance of the fire department in the
midst of the deluge. Residences were
damaged more or less throughout the
city and many We're undermined by the
immense amount of water that ran
into the cellars and Easements. Wires
were down in all directions and the
high wind, which came up about 2
O'Clock, helped things in this direc-
| ton amazingly.
The worst of 1T is over" said Fore
cast Official Lyons at o'clock yes
| terday. afternoon. 81 think the clouds
are unable to send any more rain in
can contain any more. This has been
the heaviest rain since August, 1892, at
which time five inches of rain fell, in
storm which was not so long in
duration as this one. That was the
| time of the great cavein and washouts
| on the West side, you will probably re-
member. Up to this hour we have just
| trifie less than four inches in the
| last sixteen hours. This rain came
| from the Northwest Canadian terri
| tory.
cit has been heavier in ST. Paul,
| however, than at any other point, St.
Paul being the center of the storm
| area. 1t is comparative light in the
| Dakotas. The wind in South Dakota
| was thirty-six miles during this storm.
| We had it at the rate of thirty miles.
while Pierre and Huron experienced
a blow at the rate of thirty-six miles
| to the hour. There have been no high
| winds in the Red river valley, and
| there can be no damage done in that
direction; that is, damage to crops.
An inch and half of rain
| fell in an hour here This
| is very excessive, and that half
an inch in four minutes is about as
| heavy as 1 ever knew it to fall. Ha
| this rain set in after a sultry spell.
| we would have had much hail. and
| this, in addition TO the high winds.
| would have played havoc in all direc-
| tons and would have been very de-
structive to the crops. The rain will
prove very beneficial and strange as
it may appear, the very sections of
the country which most needed rain
got it in this Storm
Going further and speaking of the
remarkable summer which has pre-
vailed, Observer Lyons said:
I'VE had just such "a summer as
this in 1891, during which the tempera-
| ture Gid not go above so. This wear
we had a remarkably good crop, in
fact, phenomenal crop, to which peo-
| pie have been wont to refer ever since
Well, this is just such a year as that,
and almost as favorable. The ONLY
! drawback was a slight dry spell from
July 3 TO last Sunday, but otherwise
| this summer is almost a parallel of
that of 1881. That year you will prob
| ably remember we had summer up to
| september, and the board of educa-
| ton was obliged to close the schools
| in that month on account of the heat.
| If the weather keeps on in this way
| through August, we may look for Just
! such another state of affairs We may
look for & warm fall and possibly the
| closing Of the schools during Septem-
| Der, who knows?''
| RAILROAD fWASHOUTS.
The storm seems to have Travelled
down the Mississippi river and devel-
oped into q. regular cIoudburst iii the
country between Wabasha and Wi
mona AS result, two railway lines
were somewhat disabled in their train
service yesterday, namely, the Mil
waukee and the Burlington TWO
washouts occurred near Lake City and
q bridge was partly carried away be-
| tween Kellogg and Weaver, on the
| milwaukee. The washouts occurred al
| places where the roadbed follows the
( side bills pretty closely, and 8 consid.
crable portion of the track was carried
away. These washorts had been re-