The Savannah morning news., 1903-03-30
FELT STORMS FURY
GALE FROM THE GULF STRUCK
SAVANNAH WITHOUT WARNING.
HEAVY RAIN WITH BLOW.
WIND REACHED VELOCITY OF &C
MILES AN HOUR.

undatcd-Fences Blown Down and
Branches Twisted from Trees.
Boats Were Capsized Mt the Re-
sorts-TeIephOne and Telegraph
Wires Suffered and COmmunica-
tiOn with Tybee Cut on.
In gusts that attained a velocity
of as miles an hour, wrenching and
twisting branches from trees, strip
ping shrubbery of its foliage, leveling
fences, street signs and billboards,
breaking telegraph and telephone
wires, and causing the timorous no
little uneasiness, a northaster swept
over Savannah yesterday afternoon.
For nearly four hours the wind. blew
with a velocity of from 80 to 40 miles
an hour, driving the rain in every
direction, and rendering entirely use
less those umbrellas that were not
wrecked. At Tybee the storm ragged
and whipped the pillows into a perfect
fury tearing loose the outer bell-buoy
and carrying it upon the beach. Dur
ing the afternoon the gale blew at the
rate of 65 miles an hour. No damage
of any consequence was done, how
ever.
Accompanying the storm was an ex-
cessive rainfall, and rain and wind to-
gether did a great deal of damage to
the crops. From Saturday midnight
until O'Clock last night, S.27 inches
of rain fell, and it was still raining
at that hour. The lowlands were sub
merged, the streets were badly washed
in certain sections of the city, and
about thirty feet of Congress lane,
just behind the excavation for the
Germania Bank building, was mum
dated. The water rushed into the ex-
cavation and transformed it into a
millpond. and the lane had to be roped
off. The damage could not be esti-
mated last night.
storm Developed Suddenly.
Without any warning, other than the
ominous clouds and the steady rain,
the storm struck the city. 1t
developed suddenly in the East Gulf
Saturday and moved with unusual rap
idity, reaching Savannah shortly before
The order from the chief weather OBJ
server at Washington, to hoist the
northeast storm warning.
Although the Washington message
was sent to 1920 o'clock. it did reach
here until several hours later. because
of the damage done to the telegraph
wires, and the wind was blowing a
gale while the red flag was being run
up over the government building, and
the Morning News. The storm was
central over Northern Florida in the
morning, and bounded into Georgia
without losing much time.
II stu act Ear oh
O'Clock, and kept a velocity of forty
miles an hour for some little while.
Later in the afternoon the gusts were
less frequent and not so strong. The
gale had spent it's force here and NOV |
ed northward. The rain continued and
those who were eluckless enough to be !
forced on the streets had anything but |
a pleasant time of it.
Boats Were Capsized.
At the resorts and in the suburbs the
real force of the storm was felt by
those who were exposed to its fury. !
Boats were capsized at Tunderbolt ard |
Isle of Hope, but no reports were re-
ceived last night of any fishing parties
being caught in the gale. At Thun-
derbolt the water rose over some of |
the shell walks to the wharves and the |
march opposite the Casino was under
water.
Roads We're washed in many places. |
Several houses east of Waters avenue
were entirely surrounded by water, a |
foot deep in places. and the inmates
were penned in. The baseball park on
Bolton street was a veritable lake and |
a small row boat could have been used |
on the diamond.
storm at Tybee.
The Tybee Railroad was not damaged |
and no fears were entertained for its
safety during the night. Supt. Saussy
went to the island early in the after |
noon and returned, satisfied that
there was no danger of a
washout. Mayor John O.. Butler and
ten or twelve persons, came up on the |
night train and reported that no dam
age of any consequence had been done |
on the island.
The bell buoy was washed on the |
beach just as the train was leaving,
and the attention of the passengers was
attracted by the ringing of the bell,
as the breakers dashed against the
buoy. The surf was running unusually
high at that time and it was an hour
from high water. Still the regular res
idents of the island felt secure and
only those who had intended coming
TO the city anyway took the train.
Telephone communication with TyOee
was cut off at about the time the
storm broke over Savannah, and there
was no way last night of learning what
was going on at the resort. No fears,
however, are entertained for the safety
of the residents.
Many Wires Down.
The storm played havoc with the
telephone lines, both in and out of the
city. Both the Bell and Georgia COM
panies suffered and the long distance
wires were not in use during the day.
The telegraph wires were also IN
trouble and forces Of linemen were
sent out during the evening to repair
street railway company was particu-
larry fortunate and its chief loss was
the patronage that the resorts would
have received. Manager Kidder had
anticipated heavy travel
The heavy billboard on the Con-
gress lane side Of the Germania Bank
building went down with crash dur
ing the afternoon. The streets were
Strewn with foliage and paper and
pieces Of loose tin that the wind
grenched from house tops. In some
sections Of the city window shutters
were torn from their hinges and
glasses were broken. and the reason
The storm did not 10 more serious
damage y because Of the fact that the |
wind came la gusts. and did not blow |
steadily.
During the late afternoon the wind
shifted 70 the north ana IL became very |
much cooler. The predictions are /
however for warmer weather with rain
TO-DAY fffhe fsTacuaf -