The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-06
STORM WAS BRIEF
BUT VERY SEVERE
UNPRECEDENTED RAIN FALL
AND FIERCE LIGHTNING.
Precipitation for Three-Quarters of
an Hour Was One and Forty-two
one-Hundredths Inches-Sewers
Blocked and Many Cellars Flooded.
Dynamos at the Providence Road
Power House Disabled and All
Trolley Roads Tied Up for an
Hour Lackawanna Station Struck

A brief but extremely severe rain storm
visited the Lackawanna valley yester-
day, causing a large amount of dam
age. The Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western station and the Scranton Rail-
way company's power house were
struck by lightning, and, in several
parts of the city, sewers became
choked by the excessive flow and re-
suited in many cellars being flooded.
The storm came from the south at
l o'clock and passed northward up the
valley, continuing for about an hour.
The fall was gentle at first and unac-
companied by any electrical distur-
bance but it grew in intensity until it
was virtual cloud-burst and at Its
height the thunder and lightning came
on with unusual fierceness. No rain
was repoNed at Clarks Summit or Nay
Aug.
From the time the storm had passed
the shower stage until it ceased at a
few minutes before o'clock, forty-five
minutes elapsed. In that time, the pre-
Cipitation was one and forty-twO ono
hundred inches. II. L. Paine. the local
weatherman, says this breaks all rec
ords An inch an hour is something
unusual, he says, for this region. In
a whole year the rain fall does not ex-
ceed thirtyfive inches.
MUCH EXCITEMENT.
No one was killed or injured as far
as can be learned. There was no end
Of excitement, though, at the Lacka-
wanna station when the lightning
struck there. The bolt struck the
weather vane on the cupola and after
knocking off a number of states and
setting fire to the timbers scattered it
| self throughout the whole building in
following the gas pipes to the ground
The waiting rooms were filled with
passengers and many of them in their
fear rushed out into the storm. Two
women swooned but were quickly re-
suscitated.
Engineer Charles Shafer. who was In
the cab of his locomotive in the yard
| saw the bolt strike and blew his whistle
as a signal of fire. He says the bolt
| resembled a ball of fire and was as
| big as a mans two fists.
An alarm was sent in from box IL,
| at the Weston mill. and the fremen
with the aid of ladders and the chemi-
cal engines easily succeeded in prevent
| ing the flames from spreading.
The trolley company suffered from
both the lightning and the flood. The
| bolt which entered the power house
| burnt out a field wire on one of the
| dynamos and disabled all the machines.
| 1t was an hour before they could be
| repaired and in the meantime traffic
was stalled on all lines. The water
| backed up from the sewer at the sag
| in Carbon street and formed a lake
| several feet deep which did not subsde
| for nearly an hour.
SEWERS CHOKED.
The old sewers on Linden street and
| Wyoming avenue, as is their wont,
| failed to carry off the water and the
streets We're in consequence turned in
| to rivers.
The cellar of the board Of trade
| building was flooded from water that
| overflowed the curb and backed up
| from the sewer and a quantity of furni-
ture owned by D. l. Phillips was badly
| soaked The cellar Of Gould's carriage
works was filled in like manner and
| the fires in the furnaces eXtinguished.
| The pits in the street car barn, the
| cellar of Koemple's drug store, the
| post office basement and the basement
of the st. Cloud hotel were all flooded.
| At the Globe Warehouse the water
backed up through the wash-room un-
der the sidewalk, overflowed and eigh-
| teen inch parapet built as a barricade
against this very thing and flooding
| the floor to the depth of four inches
soaked a large quantity of dry goods
contained in large packing cases stand
ing on the floor. The damage was net
| less than $4OO, it is estimated.
The Crystal laundry on Adams ave.
| nue. also suffered from a flood. the
basement filling up to the depth OF
| nearly three feet.
North of the mountain a heavT wind
| storm prevailed. At Dalton fences
and trees were blown down anl crops
| badly damaged.
A washout occurred on the Della
ware, Lackawanna and Western neal
the Mt. Pleasant breaker, but it was
not very serious and caused little de-
| lay to traffic.
Lightning struck the residence of c.
L. Griffin at 424 Clay avenue. The
roof was badly damaged, but the build,
ing was not set on fire.