New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-03-12
FLOODS IN WESTCHESTER.
PEOPLE ESCAPE FROM THEIR HOUSES
AT NIGHT IN ROWBOATS. 81

The wind and rain storm which swept Vest
chester County on Sunday night and yesterday
morning was of the heaviest in several
years. For fully ten hours the wind ragged at
seventy and eighty miles hour. and the rain
fell in torrents, When the people living along
the Bronx. Hutchinson, Sheldrake and Byram
rivers awoke they found those streams overflow
ing their embankments. At many places the
country for great stretches was inundated. The
swollen torrents were dotted with small build
ings, chicken coops and all kinds of drifting OBJ
jects which had been carried away from their
moorings. In a number of houses on the banks
of the Bronx River the water rose to the second
stories. and the occupants We're forced to leave
them at night in rowboats and seek shelter with
neighbors. Several hundred houses between
White Plains and WoodIawn are almost sub
merged
John Hermann and William Lewis. railroad
employees. left White Plains at 12 o'clock on Sun
day night going north to look for washouts
along the road. Lewis returned some time later.
leaving Hermann to watch the tracks. Her
mann was to report at o'clock yesterday morn-
ing, and when he did not return several men
were sent TO search for him. Three miles from
the village and opposite the Rural Cemetery, the
searching party found Hermann's body lodged
in a culvert beside the track. where it had been
caught. and where the water several feet
deep and flowing swiftly. II is thought that
Hermann. while patrolling the tracks, fell from
bridge further north. Hermann lived In Madt-
son-ave., White Plains. and had wife and five
children. There were marks of violence on
his face body.
Two linemen of ScarsdaIe had narrow escapes.
They had been sent out repair wires. when
they We're knocked into the Bronx River by a
falling pole They were rescued through the
quick action of two companions, who threw a.
rope them and pulled them ashore.
At Pemberwicb near Port Chester the water
rushed over the dam at the Port Chester Bolt
and Nut Works. and filled the building with
from three 70 six feet of water. Yesterday the
four hundred employees of the concern were
idle. The factory. which is a large one. is
threatened with destruction by a huge ice
gorge " hich has formed at the dam. Men were
at work Yesterday removing the machinery to a
place of safety. n large tank, containing four
thousand gallons of oil swept from its
moorines. The oil went floating down the
At New Rochelle where the storm was almost
a hurricane, the HOrtOn-ave. bridge was
ried away. and much damage was done To the
streets The cellars of many costly houses are
filled with six and eight feet OF water, and the
occupants are shivering because their furnaces
At White Plains Superintendent Frederick
Seymour. of the waterwOTks system. said that
measurements taken at a m. showed rain
fall of SIS inches: at l p. m. this had increased
- inches over a hundred houses in the
village were surrounded with water ranging in
depth from three 20 five feet Several streets,
namely Bronx. Cottage. Water. Smith and
Brookheld. submerged in four 70 six feet OF
water. The only way in which the people
could leave their homes was by rowboats-
Furnace fires in many of the houses were put
out and in many cellars there five feet Of
water Fifteen furnaces in the power houses 81
the Tdrrytown White Plains and NamaroneCk
trolley road were filled with water at 10 o'clock.
and the stopped running
careful estimate of the damage caused by
the flood in PeekskiII made from figures given a
Tribune reporter puts the loss at close to S9op
The water in the cellar of Ezra j. Horizons drug
store got into some chemicals. which exploded
with a loud report and blew out the front of the
building Ii also set fire 10 the place.