The age-herald., 1901-09-02
Appalling Overflow Was Started by CIOudburst Which Rag
 ed for Two Hours MILLION DOLLAR DAMAGE
Hundreds of Families Were In Great Peril, and the Life Boats Had to be Used in the
 Work of Rescue.

l Cleveland, O., September 1. With the breaking of dawn this morning the citi- zens of Cleveland awoke to look upon a scene of unparalleled devastation and de- struction caused by 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- ton of the city and caused an amount of | damage approximated at s, 100000
 The appalling overflow was caused by a terrific rain which commenced to fall shortly after o'clock and turned into a perfect cloudburst between the hours of and 5, and then continued with great fury until nearly 10 o'clock. The storm. according to the weather officials. was the heaviest that ever swept over Cleve- land since the establishment of the gov ernment bureau in this city more than forty years ago.
 That no lives were lost is nothing short of miracle, as the stories of thrilIinp escapes from the water on several of tbe principal residence streets of the city are told.
 The surging waters spread over an area or the city In the East End nearly eight miles long and mile and half wide. extending from woodlawn Hills avenue to East Cleveland and back to East Mad ison avenue
 Great Volumes of Water. Great volumes of water poured over rom Doan and Giddings brooks down Quincy street, swamping Vienna street, rushed over Cedar, back over on East down Lincoln avenue to Eucnde avenue and then to Glen Park place. where
 houses where undermine as thouv-h ,b,,,lt
 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 one foot to six feet. Culverts and trestles and bridges were torn down, and for hours nothing seemed capable of stemminR the tide of destruction Hundreds of resi- dents who were imprisoned in their beautiful homes like stranded islanders were almost panic stricken, expecting to be called upon to wade out into the swiriing waters at almost every minute. Danger signals were flashed about the city as speedily as the disabled telephone l O rescue commenced Rowboats piled bac, and forth assisting whole families from perilous positions, but these proved pitt fuiiy inadequate and it was soon. found l necessary to go to the extraordinary precaution of calling on the life saving crew from the river, a distance of seven miles
 Life Boats Used. | The lifeboats were quickly loaded on l wagons and hurried to the scene of de- | struction
 | The torrent surged with awful force for l hours in Deering street from Fairmont to the Boulevard and over a dozen fam. flies were penned like rats in a trap with water five and six feet deep sur rounding their homes. At this point the l ifersaving crew worked valiantly and as- sisted by squads of flremen and police men, finally succeeded In landing the ter
 ror-stricken people in places of safety. The fear was greatly enhanced by the
 momentary expectation that the great
 Shaker Heights dam would break loose
 and belch forth terrible destruction.
 Shortly before noon the torrents un-
 
 eph cemetery at the corner of East Madi-
 son and Woodland, and the bodies were
 soon being tossed about in the waters.
 Fully a dozen of the corpses were
 washed into gutters and had not been re-
 covered late tonight.
 Through Gennviie the overflow was terribly destructive. Many houses are swamped. culverts torn out and several streets turned into seething uuagmires. l The loss in the village is also estimated | at s1OO00o. The street railways will | suffer an immense loss. The big consoli- | dated will have to rebuild their tracks l over different parts of the inundated east end district, and the loss Is placed at sscOoo. The Superior street trestle of the Little Consolidated is practically ruined, and this, with other serious damage in the lines of the company extending in the west side. will rIn their loss into the | thousands.
 pamane tu Railroads. The damage to the railways which will | also be great, cannot even be estimated | until the large force of track hands sent | out on emergency calls can be heard from. | The mail service from the east was com l pletely tied up from l o'clock In the l morning until o'clock tonight, when | train got through on the Lake Shore. The vast amount of damage falls upon the | householders within the flooded district.
 The great sea of water reached depth | of one foot on the first floors of scores of | the East End homes, boiling up from the sewers and pouring in off the streets,car- rying everything that came in its path along with 1t. remarkable feature or l the storm which caused such terrible de- | struction is that up until o'clock tnis morning hardly drop of rain fell west | of Wilson avenue, while during the