Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-09-09

The storm which struck Waterbury shortly after o'clock yesterday af- ternoon continued until late into the night. There was very little warn ing and as a result many were caught in the downpour minus their umbrellas, but that made little diff ference, for an umbrella would not last long and one was better off with out it. Before 1t started to rain the wind held high carnival in all parts of the city and for ten or fifteen minutes dust, old papers and por- tions of almost everything else one could mention joined in mad dance and folks who were out could scarce ly see which way to turn. The wind was accompanied by sharp lightning and loud peals of thunder, which made timid people duck their heads, thinking that they were about to be hit from some quarter Then 1t started to rain ,and didn't 1t come down? City Engineer Cairns and all the payers in Exchange place had to do some tall hustling to get to places of safety and although all moved in double quick time, in some instances leaving their tools to care for themselves many got soaked before finding shelter. The water rushed over the streets and sidewalks and for time nobody would have thought that there were such things in Waterbury as storm water conduits or catch basins. They may have served some good purpose, but not so that you could notice. Tn less than an hour over an inch and a quarter of rain fell and before the storm ceased the precipitation, as measured by Mir Welton, amounted to 1.53. The trolley wires were put out of business and two cars were stalled, one at Oakviile and another on East Main street at Silver street, and the wrecker had to be pressed into service. The lights went out 1n the stores and the managers had to fall back on gas and the ever faith ful candle was in evidence here and there. The electric currents were righted after brief period and then things went along as usual, but the rain kept right on and deterred many from keeping engagements made Z earlier in the day. Lightning struck in few places, but no serious dam age occurred. On Easton avenue, ] at the residence of George B. Bean, a limb was snatched from a tree, and the barn of William Mccormick was struck and set afre, but 1t was noticed in time and the budding blaze cIT1bbed into submission before 1t had R chance to spread. Some of the streets were nipped, especially on the steep grades, but the damage to the roads was slight compared with the mischief the muddy water did in diff ferent cellars and other places where the incline from the gutters and walks was just right to head it toward the buildings. The sky was threatening and many feared that the city was about to be visited by tornado which would create q panic before leaving. But 1t didn't prove to be SIS bad as that, and although the weather was doubtful to-day very little rain fell and everything was cleaned up and operations resumed on nearly all out of door work. Things were ddsar- ranged considerably where the paving Is going on in Exchange place and North Main street, but the contractors were equal to the emergency and went ahead to-day just the same as If noth- Ing of the kind had happened. Hail fell with the first dash of rain and rapped against window glass with such force that people on the inside Imagined that unfortunates who got caught in the storm were knocking for admission. 1t made everybody hustle and demonstrated to many that they are by far more fleet footed than they ever supposed.