The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1901-09-06
Cloudburst Causes Flood in the
Ohio City.
RAGING TORRENT FILLS STREETS.
The Damage to Property E"ta-
mated at H1,WbO, OOO-NO Lives
Lost, Hut Many Narrowly
Escape Death.


devastation and destruction caused
by Il 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
portion Of the city and caused an
amount Of damage approximated at
81 900 900. The appalling overflow was
caused bv terrific rain that COM
meuced to fall shortly after two
o'clock. turned into Il perfect cloud
burst between the hours Of three
and five, and then continued with
great force until nearly ten o'clock.
The storm, according to the weather
officials, was the heaviest that ever
swept over Cleveland since the cstab-
lishmcnt of the government bureau
in this city over 40 years ago.
No Loss OF Life.
That no lives were lost is nothing
short OF :; miracle, IS the stories or
thrllling escapes from the water on
several of the principal resident
streets of the city are told. The
surging waters spread over an area IN
the east end nearly eight miles long
and ~ miles wide. This extended
from Woodland Hills avenue to East
Cleveland and back to East Madison
avenue, Great volumes of water
poured over from Doan and Giddlngs
brooks down Quincy street, swamped
Vienna street, rushed over Cedar ave-
nue.. back over on East Prospec1
street. rushed like mill race down
Lincoln avenue 20 Euclid avenue, anu
then on to Glen Park place, where
houscs were undermined as though
built of straw, and almost lncredlole
damage done to streets and property
Swept Everything Before 1t.
Over large share Of this cSclu'
siyc residence territory the water
rushed wit, terrific force, varying III
dcpth from one to six feet. Culvcrts'
trcstl>s and bridges were torn down
and for hours nothing seemed ca
pablc of stemming the tide OF de-
struction. Hundreds Of residents VINO
were imprisoned in their beautl1ui
homes like stranded islanders were
almost panic-stricken, expecting 10
be called upon to wade out into the
svirline waters at almost every
minute. Danger signals were flashed
about the city as speedily as the as
abcd telephone system would ailo"
and the work of rescue commenced.
Rowboats Piled back and forth as
sisting whole families from pcrilous
positions, but these proved pitifully
inadequate, and it was soon found
necessary to go to the extraordinary
precaution of calling on the life saw
ing crew from the river, distance
of seven miles. The life boats were
quickly loaded on wagons and hHr-
ricd to the scene Of destruction.
Rescued by Life-Savers.
The torrent surged with awful
force for hours in Dccring street
from Fairmuunt to the boulevard,
and over dozen families were
pcnrcd in like rats in trap with
water five and six feet deep surround
ing their homes. At this point the
life saving crew worked valiantly,
and, assisted by squads Of fircnen
and policemen, finally succeeded in
landing the terror-strickcn people in
places of safety. The fear was great
" enhanced by the momcntary cS-
pcctation that tho great Shaker
Heights dam would break loose and
bclch forth terrible destruction.
Cemetery Invaded.
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
lana. and the bodies were soon being
tossed about in the waters. Fully a
dozen Of the corpses were washed in
to cutters and had not been recovered
at late hour.
Damage to Parks and boulevard.
The great flood boiled over the ba nks
of Doan brook all along the boulevard
and caused damage that it will take
months to repair. Great jagged holes
are torn in the beautiful driveway, and
the look Of ruin stretches in every d.
rection. Gordon and Wade parks, on
the East side, and Brookside park, on
the South side, where the water also
did great damage as it leaped over the
banks of Big creek, are damaged TO an
amount figured at 100000. Through
Chenille the overflow was terribly de-
structivc. Many houses arc swamped,
culvrcts torn out and several streets
turned into secthing quagmires. The
loss in the village is also estimated at
100000.
Street Railways Suffer.
The street railways will suffer an
immense loss, extending in varying de-
grees over every portion of the city.
The Big Consolidated will have to re-
build their tracks over differentParts
Of the inundated East end district, and
the loss is placed at $4,000. The Su~
pcrior street trestle of the Little Con-
solidated is practically ruined and
this, with other serious damage in the
lines of the company extending way
over in the West side. will run their
loss way into the thousands. The Of
ficia,s of the road were not ready, how