The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-09-06
age Done

ing flood While the entire city was
more or less effected, the great volume
of raging water vented it's anger over
miles of the eastern portion of the city,
and caused an amount of damage ap-
proximated at 81, 900, 900.
The appalling overflow was caused by
a terrific rain that commenced to fall
shortly after . o'clock, turned into a
Veritable cloud burst between the hours
of 3 and 3, and then continued until
nearly 10 o'clock. The storm, accord
ing TO the weather officials, was the
heaviest that has swept over Cleveland
since the establishment Of the govern
men bureau in his city, over forty
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 resident streets
OF the city arc told.
The surging water spread over an
area in the east end nearly eight miles
long and a mile and a half wide. This
extended from Woodland Hill avenue
to East Cleveland and back to East
Madison Venu
NO1uiIlt u water poured over
from DOan and Giddings brooks down
Quincy street, swamped Vienna street.
rushed over Cedar avenue back over on
a Prospect street; rushed a mill
race down Lincoln avenue to Euclid
avenue, and then on to Glen Park place.
where houses were undermined as
hOugh built CT straw. Almost incredi-
bic damage was done the streets and
property.
over a large share of this exclusive
residence territory the water rushed
with terrific force. varying in depth
from one TO six feet. CuIverts. tres
ties. and bridges were torn down, and
for hours nothing seemed capable of
stemming the tide of rain.
Hundreds of residents, who Were i'm
prisOned in their beautiful homes like
stranded islanders, were almost panic
stricken expecting to be called upon to
wade out into the SWirling waters at
almost any minute. Danger signals
We're flashed about the city as speedily
as the disabled telephone system would
allow and the work of rescue
ed. ROWbOatS piled back and forth, as
SiSting whole families from perilous po-
sitions but these proved pitifully mad
equate, and il was soon found neces-
Sary to go to the extraordinary precau-
ton Of calling on the ~life-saving crew
from the river. a distance of seven
miles.
III - fdANhlN 1od1Cu OIl
agOns and hurried to the scene of de-
StructiOn. Tie torrent Surged with aw-
full force for hours in Deering street,
from Paramount to the boulevard, and
over a dozen families were penned in
like rats in a trap with water five and
six feet deep surrounding their homes.
At this point the l~ife-saving crew
worked ~Valiantly, and, assisted by
squads of firenen and policemen, final
~ succeeded in landing the terror
stricken people in places of safety. The
fear was greatly enhanced by the mo-
mentary expectation that the great
Shaker Heights dam would break loose
and belch forth terrible destruction.
Shortly before noon the torrent sue
ceeded in undermining a score Of graves
in the st. Joseph cemetery at the corner
of East Madison and Woodland, n
the bodies were soon being tossed about
in the waters. Fully a dozen of the
cOrpses were washed into cutters, and
had not been recovered late tonight.
The great flood boiled over the banks
of Doan brook and all along the boule-
ward, and caused damage that it will
take months to repair. Great jagged
holes are torn in the beautiful drive
way,~and the look of ruin stretches in
every direction
Gordon and Wade parks. on the east
side. and Brookside park. on the south
side where the water also did great
udlldSS rs II ledpeu over TIE DdIhS VI
Big creek. are damaged to an amount
figured at 100000.
Through GienVille the overflow was
terribly destructive. Many houses are
swamped. Culverts torn out. and sever
al streets turned into seething a
mires. The loss in the village is also
estimated at 800. 600.
The street railways will suffer ar i'm
mense loss, extending in varying de-
grees over every portion of the city.
The Big Consolidated will have to re-
build their tracks over different parts
OF the inundated East End district
and the loss is placed at $4,000.
The Superior street trestle of the
Little Consolidated is practically ruined.
and this, with other serious damage TO
the lines of The company, extending
way over in the West Side. Will run
their loss into the thousands The Of
Gals of the Ioa0 were not ready, how
ever. TO make any statement of their
loss tonight more than that it would
be unusually heavy.
The great sea of water reached q
depth Of one foot on the first floors OF
scores of the East End homes, Dolilng
up from the sewers and pouring IN from
the streets. carrying everything that
came in its path along with H.
In many cases the fear-strlcken resi-
dents battered down cellar walls IN
order to give the torrent an outlet ana
prevent the OF IneII en-
homes. \ remarkable feature OF the
storm which caused such terrific de-
struction Is that up until 6 o'clock this
morning hardly a drop of rain fell west
OF Wilson avenue, while during the
morning hours the East End was being
fairly swamped in a perfect deluge.
Another remarkable thing is that no
thunder and lightning accompanied the
record-breaking downfall.
While thousands of citizens in the
most aristocratic section OF the city
were aroused to see thousands upon
thousands of dollars worth of proper
ey being crushed and destroyed, anoth-
er and greater portion of the city was
wrapped in slumber totally obllv1ous TO
the danger surrounding their fellow
citizens.
Comparatively little damage was done
along the banks Of the river outside OF