The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-09
IN WIND AND HAIL
SAVANNAH TREMBLED FOR AN
HOUR YESTERDAY.
LIGHTNING HIT HOUSE.
MOTHER AND YOUNG SON NARROW
LY ESCAPED.

WINDOW heuuceu 10 SpAlntersS nut
No One Was Hurt-Spire of Luth-
eran Church Was Strusk-Men at
Work on steel Frame Building
Hurried to Places of Snfety-Sev-
ers Couldn't Garry on Rain and
Streets Were FIOOded-TrOIIey
Cars Were at "A StandstiII for Half
an HOur-Wind Moved Loaded
Freight Cars on Wharves.
Hail, wind and rain, accompanied by
an electrical display that frightened
the timorous and put telephone, tele-
graph and street railway companies
temporarily out of business, struck Sa-
vannah yesterday afternoon.
The lightning struck the steeple of
the Lutheran Church and a dwelling
on LaWton street; the rain flooded The
streets and overcharged the sewers; the
wind caused loaded freight cars to
move, blew down branches of trees and
did other things, and the hail beat
down vegetation and cooled the atmos-
phere considerably.
Although all of these things happened
during the storm. it was not a record
breaker by any means. Still, people
were frightened and some damage was
done. The vivid flashes of lightning
and the frequent peals of thunder
proved disconcerting, but no one was
injured. The home of w. G.. Fairchild
at No. 210 Lawton street was struck
by lightning and Mrs. Fairchild and
young son were badly frightened.
Neither was injured. however.
lightning Struck House.
At $3.50 o'clock bolt struck the east
ern side of the dwelling, passed through
the kitchen and through the kitchen
floor into the ground. reducing several
boards and a window sill to splint-
ers. A pet dog standing near where
the lightning went into the ground was
uninjured and was found trembling
some time afterwards by Mr.. Fair
child. A block of wood was knocked
from the steeple of the Lutheran
Church and the splinters were hurled
to the asphalt on President street.
No other damage was done to the
house of worship.
During the worst of the storm the
engines at the power house OF the
Savannah Electric Company, on Gwin-
nett and OFT streets, were shut down
and the cars were out of service for
thirty minutes. AS it was several of
the cars were burned out and the sched-
ules were knocked into a cooked hat
on some of the lines for an hour At
Waldburg and Abercorn streets the
sand was washed on the tracks of the
street railway company and the cars
were blocked until track gang could
remove the mud. The street railway
company, however. would have suf-
fered a greater loss but for the fact
that the engines at the power house
were shut down for time. Many or
the telephones were burned out and
other electrical apparatus suffered.
Wind Was strong.
Although the gauge at the weather
bureau shows that the wind did not
attain a velocity of more than thirty
one miles an hour it blew very much
harder than that in some sections of
the city. The weather bureau records
show that for five minutes the wind
blew from the northeast at the rate
mentioned. 1t was strong enough,
however. at the wharves of the At
lantic Coast Line to move loaded
freight cars, and to badly frighten
those who were at work.
The large plate glass window on the
Broughton street side of Jackson &
Gutman's store went In with a crash
when the wind was at its highest,
and the cellar of the store was food
ed with water. Considerable damage
was done here. Innumerable signs
were blown down and in some cases
branches of trees were carried almost
a block. The wind dashed the hail
stones, many of which were quite
large, against buildings and glasses
with much force.
Streets Were Flooded.
The storm was equally as severe at
Thunderbolt and Isle of Hope as in the
city. So far as learned the hail and
wind did little damage outside of the
CITY.
In twenty minutes more than a half
an inch of rain fell and in many
places the sidewalks were covered
with water and the streets were flood
ed. The sewers were unable to carry
off the water as fast as it fell.
The total precipitation was Ito
inches. In one hour SO of an inch fell,
and in twenty minutes, from 2:S5
o'clock to 2:55, 20 of an inch was
crowded. The greatest amount of
rain fell from 2:45 o'clock until 2:50.
In that five minutes .SS of an inch fell.
The following table shows excessive
rainfalls in June:
June %, lSS9-one hour ......1.35 inches
June 16, 1S95-one hour .....1.43 inches
June 10, 1S97-one hour ......1.5O inches
June 10, 1850 min. .......1.20 inches
June "A, 19O0-34 min. ......1.13 inches
June II, 1901-36 min. -......1.11 inches