The San Francisco call., 1903-01-28
Wind and Rain Cut Merry
Capers on thorough
fares of City.
Umbrellas Reverse Them
selves and Citizens Per-
form Strange FeatS.

N@ HE rain kept coming all Oay yes
terday and more yet is said to be
on the way The south wind got
In strong too with so much drink
and cut loose to enjoy itself.
Many an umbrella suffered severe frac-
lures of the ribs and many a discounted
citizen wasted flowers Of blasphemy on
the unhearing air as a result, 1t was
most unfortunate day for the modest
maidens who were forced to brave the
elements and the wind-gusts on the cor
ners, but on the other hand, it saved
much muscle for the damsels of the
kangaroo" persuasion. The severity of
the storm was so great. however, that the
cigar stand satellites were forced to with
draw few steps to those spots where
weather conditions are forgotten and
were robbed of even such rewards as
come to them on ordinary muddy days.
All day long the lids of dignifed
pedestrians were speeding in drunken
tracks through the reeking streets, while
Interested spectators who elected to stay
their arduous courses for a moment,
shouted encouragement to the unhappy
pursuer Now and then throughout the
day a man could be seen breaking sprint
to fall in the muck by the wayside
and rise with dismay painted on his face
and landscape on his trousers. And all
the time there was no letup of
the torrents from the celestial sluice-
gates. The patrons Of that route" where
water is but a memory of childhood be-
came disconnected in the fear that all
things were turning into Adams ale."
The superstitious trembled lest biblical
nc, ralI hicfOrNy fohf
itself and grew i'll with alarm in calculat-
ing their chances of being among the
small group that might get into the ark.
But withal, McAdie, the weather
prophet, asserts that the downpour has
just commenced and that the rains will
descend and the floods come for several
days yet Where it all comes from, not
even he will venture to guess, and he
possesses volumes of meteorological lore
which are supposed to make plain the
ways of the god of storms.
The wires weres interrupted for a
time from the East and from the
North. Snow is falling in the Sier-
ras. The ocean is wild and de-
structive and shipping interests are in
great danger. Up In Shasta and Hum
boldt counties the rivers overhowed
their banks two days ago and much of
the lowlands is inundated The Sacra-
mento is from nineteen to tWenty-four
feet above the normal. At sunset yes
terday the river at MarysviIle had
passed the danger line and people were
getting out of harms way.
1t is expected that great damage will
result in many sections of the State
McAdie says that people who want to
start East would do better to stay at
home unless they want to winter some
where in the Rockies. At Point Reyes
the wind had attained a velocity of
seventy miles an hour last night and was
gaining strength.
o O
been a great deal Of winter irrigation.
The rainfall to date is S.12 inches against
4.15 inches to the same time last year
There is every prospect of continued
downpour throughout the night.
DOWNPoUR IN THE SOUTH.
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27.-One of the
heaviest transforms of the season pre-
walls tonight throughout Southern Cali
fornia and will result in incalculable good
to all interests The storm began at an
early hour this morning and has contin-
ued throughout the day, the clouds with
holding the moisture only at short inter-
walls. UD to o'clock this afternoon,
when the measurements were taken at
the Weather Bureau, "a of an inch had
fallen, and .92 Of an inch for the storm
Since that hour enough has fallen to
make more than an inch for the past
twenty-four hours. Everything indicates
a continuance of the downpour through
the night.
The present storm dispels the fears of a
dry season among the agriculturists and
restores confidence of the entire bust
ness world of this section. Reports from
points in the southern part of the State
bring news of a generous downpour and
corresponding improvement in conditions.
At Santa Barbara an inch and a half
of rain fell during the past twenty-tour
hours, with no indications of a cessation
of the downpour. All points in the vicin-
ity of Santa Barbara and along the coast
southwark report heavy precipitation,
amounting at some places to two inches
The wind at Santa Barbara is blowing
strongly from the southeast, which is re-