The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-15
THE FLOOD GATES OPENED
ALMOST EIGHT INCH Es OF RAIN UP
 TOS O'CLOCK LAST NIGHT.

The Ravages of the storm Evident All
 over the City-Trees Blown Down
 Roofs Demolished-Deep Puddles of
 Water Standing Everywhere-Hartfor
 Rainfall Even Greater.
 Up. to o'clock last evening seven and sixty one hundredths inches of water had been precipitated upon the city of New Haven in the storm and showers of the last two days.
 The weather bureaus arrangement for fair, cooler weather beginning yes terday was not carried out on time as anticipated. There was evidently more wet weather belonging to the locality which got left out in the deluge of Tuesday. The belated weather ar rived here all right yesterday morning, when the rain descended in torrents about 4 o'clock, Still worse belated weather arrived in town about 6 o'clock last evening, with a heavy thunder shower. Weather Observer Myers still contin- ues hopeful prophet and says that he anticipates fair and cooler weather to-
 day, sure.
 Yesterdays heavy shower was &C., companied by winds which did consid- erable damage
 l A large elm tree two feet in diameter. near West Chapel street. was blown 1 up by the roots at about 4:90 o'clock yesterday morning and fell across the street, blocking 1t from curb to curb. A short way from this another large elm split and large part of 1t fell. barely missing Conductor Emmerich of | the Edgewood line, who was hurrying 1 to take his car.
 Everywhere the ground beneath the | trees were filtered with small limbs, twigs and leaves were torn off by the storm.
 Tracts of lowland in and about the l city were ponds of water
 | Near Morris Cove, on the State street of water extending up nearly to the
 newly erected chapel.
 The water in the Naugatuck river is
 the highest ever known.
 | The water in Lake Whitney was high
 CT last evening than It has been for years at this season and some fear was entertained that damage would be caus- ed unless the water began to recede
 before morning. The heavy rainstorm
 which set in at midnight Monday
 caused all the small rivers, brooks and
 other tributaries suddenly to become roaring torrents and they poured great
 volumes of water into the lake all day yesterday. The water in the lake be- | gan to rise early yesterday and con- tinued to gain at an unprecedented
 rate. Before noon the lower lake cov-
 cred a greater area than for many years, and the strong dam near the | Whitneyville armory must have been
 tested nearly to its full capacity by the
 great pressure of the flood. | Throughout the afternoon the water | rose rapidly and the dam never pre-
 sented a more magnificent sight. A. | large number of amateur photograph i CTS took advantage of the unusual op-
 portunity to obtain a splendid waterfall picture and they occupied many points
 of vantage On the west side of East l Rock as we'll as on Whitney avenue,
 while taking snap shots during the af- | ternoon.
 The stream below, into which the wa
 ter from the dam fell soon became a
 boiling torrent and Mill river. the re- ceptacle of the lakes refuse, was swol-
 len to thrice It's normal size as far
 down as the Orange street bridge. At 3 o'clock the water had risen to such a height that the lower floors of
 the two boathouses on the lower lake | were flooded At that hour the water
 was still rising at the rate of six inches an hour. With the exception of few
 washouts on the upper lakes no dam
 age had been reported last night. | For the first time since the park grounds were laid out the fine spring on the west side of Mill river where hundreds of tired and thirsty bicyclists and pedestrians regale themselves 1 these warm days, was covered by the l tide At 3 o'clock the receptacle into
 which the spring water flows was cov-
 cred to the depth of a foot.
 The tide washed over Riverside path ! a favorite walk on the east side of the
 river and it was impossible all day II Is not thought that the path has been damaged by washouts. The park commissioners had an extra force oi laborers at work at East Rock Park re-
 pairing damage caused to the roadway by the rain storm