Evening journal., 1901-09-02
TERRIBLE STORM
WREAKS HAVOC
Finest Residence Part Of
Cleveland OVOrAOWed
DAMAGE AMOUNTS TO MILLIONS
Graves Washed Out and COrpseS
Rhirled Through The Streets.
No Loss Of Life

Cleveland. O.. Sept. with the
breaking of dawn yesterday morning
the citizens of Cleveland awolge to
look upon a scene Of unparalleled dew
astation and destruction caused by a
raging flood While the entire city
was more or less affected, the great
volume Of raging water vented its
anger over miles of the eastern por
tion of the city. and caused an amount
Of damage approximated at $1,000
600. Theappalling overflow was caused
by a terrific rain that commenced TO
fall shortly after o'clock, which
turned into a perfect cloudburst be-
tween the hours of anu 8. and then
continued with great force until near
ly 10 o'clock The storm. according
10 the weather officials, was the heav-
lest that ever swept over Cleveland
since the establishment OF the gov
ernment bureau in this city over 40
years ago That no lives were lost is
nothing short of a miracle. as the
stories OF thrilling escapes from the
water on several of the principal resi-
dent streets Of the city are told.
Great volumes of water poured over
from Doan and Giddings brooks down
Quincy street. swamped Vienna street,
rushed over Cedar avenue back over
on East Prospect street rushed like a
mill race down Lincoln avenue TO Eu-
cid avenue, and then on to Glen Park
place where houses were undermined
as though built Of straw and almost
incredible damage done to streets and
property
Over a large share Of this exclusive
residence territory the water rushed
with terrific force varying in depth
from / to G feet Culverts, trestles and
bridges were torn down and for hours
nothing seemed capable Of stemming
the tide OF destruction.
Hundreds Of residents who we're inn
prisoned in their beautiful homes like
stranded islanders were almost panic
stricken, expecting to be called upon
to wade out into the swirling water
at almost every minute. Danger sig
nails were flashed about the city as
/
tenn would allowsand the work Of res
cue commenced. Row boats piled back
and forth assisting whole families
from perilous positions but these prov
ed pitifully inadequate and It was soon
found necessary to go 10 the extra
ordinary preoaution of calling on the
life saving crew from the river, a dis
tance of seven miles. The life boats
were quickly loaded on wagons and
hurried TO the scene OF destruction.
The torrent surged with awful force
for hours in Deering street, from Fair
mount to the boulevard and over
dozen families were penned in like rats
in a trap with water 8 and feet deep
surrounding their homes. At this point
the life saving crew worked valiantly
and assisted by squads of firemen and
policemen finally succeeded in landing
the terror-stricken people in places of
safety. The fear was greatly enhanced
by the momentary expectation that
great Shaker Heights dam would break
loose Nnd belch forth destruction.
Shortly before noon the torrent sue
ceeded in undermining score Of
graves in the st. Joseph cemetery at
the corner Of East Madison and Wood
land, and the bodies we're soon being
tossed about in the waters. Fully a
dozen Of the corpses were washed into
cutters and had not been recovered
early this morning.
The train service on all roads was
blocked from two 20 six hours by the
fearful effect of the storm and food.
. Every road entering the city was ter
ribly handicapped by sand and dirt.
which was swept over the tracks. Sew
eral washouts occurred. the worst be.
ing on the Lake Shore near Gordon
Park where the trestle was buffeted
about by the force of the water until
rendered almost worthless. The dam
age to the railways cannot be even
l estimated now. The mail service from
the east was completely tied up from
10 o'clock in the morning until
o'clock last night when a train got
through on the Lake Shore. But the
vast amount OF damage falls upon the
householders in the flooded district.
The great sea Of water reached q
depth of foot on the first floors Of
scores Of the east end homes, boiling
! up from the sewers and pouring in of
from the streets carrying everything
that came in its path along with it
IN many cases the fear-stricken resi-
dents battered down cellar walls il
order to give the torrent an outlet an,
o prevent the swamping OF their entir
y homes.
A remarkable feature of the storm
It which caused such terrific destruction
e is that up until o'clock yesterda
morning hardly a drop Of rain fell ives
Of Wilson avenue while during tn