Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-15
FIRST SEVERE STORM
xs
Autumn. Ushered in With
Rain and Furious Wind.
GALE SWEEPS COAST
CENTRAL TODAY IN VICINITY OF
II NANTUCKET.
2 sri
Five Inches of Rain Fell Here With
Maximum Wind Velocity of Thirty
Six Miles an Hour.
GALE SWEEPS COAST

| TIC and ugly low winch en-
veloped Washington yesterday and buried
| the city beneath-five solid inches of water
went flying up the coast at an early hour
this morning. furiously pursued by crisp
and snappy high which brought cool
blue skies to replace the leaden clouds Of
the day before
| Gathering in intensity as 1t went. the
| storm. which was central here last night.
| developed this morning into a hurricane off
1 the New England coast, and despite the
| ample warnings sent out from the weather
bureau In this city 1t is believed that heavy
damage will be done to shipping. The latest
reports show that the storm attained its
highest wind velocity at Block Island be-
fore dawn this morning. There the wind
went sweeping on its way at the rate of
| eightyfour miles an hour.
Many Washingtonians who listened I'M
| easily to the midnight bowling of the
storm through the capital last night were
! prepared this morning to say that eighty
! four miles would be modest estimate to
| place on the speed of the whirling air cur
| rents that seemed to threaten roofs and the
very buildings themselves. But 1t was re-
] assuring to look upon the official figures at
! the weather bureau this morning. They
| show that the vi nds highest velocity In
| this city was thirty-six miles an hour.
| Compared to the Block Island attainment
it will be seen that the Washington wind
|
Wind Velocity Elsewhere.
Baltimore registered wind velocity of
| only thirty-six miles Also but at Ph1adel-
| phia the storm. was just finding its real
| fury. The Quakers were menaeed by
| cyclonic wind of sixty miles an hour. At
| New York the wind swirled about the tow
ering sky-scrapers and screeched through
the rigging of the ports immense shipping
at the merry gait Of sixty-eight miles. Not
| content with his achievements at the
| metropolis Boreas set sail for the New Eng
| land coast. His forces swept screamlngly
| over Long Island, and reaching Block
| Island, dashed the atmosphere OF That popu-
/ lar summer resort with hurricane feroclty.
The velocity of eighty-four miles at this
! point was the highest the weather bureau
had received this afternoon. The storm
! at 2 O'Clock today was raging in the v1cin-
| ity of Nantucket, below Cape Cod, and had
not been felt in intensity at Boston
/ Before coming to Washington the storm
| had given Norfolk a passing compliment
| with 4S-mile breeze.
! Preceded in it's flight by deluge, the
storm spent its watery fury between Wash
! ington and Philadelphia. Here the almost
unprecedented fall of five solid inches or
rain was recorded In Baltimore the ram
| fall registered was SOC. just fraction
| more than in Washington. In Philadelphia
the fall was. heaviest, the official figures
| placing 1t at 5.54 inches. In New YORK
| there was fail of only $50 inches, while
| Boston felt the coming hurricane with d
| rain blanket of $50 inches.
| One August day in 1898 the rainfall OF
| yesterday in this city was exceeded Al
| that. time something over SIX lnches or
| rain fell during the day, blocking the street
| cars, flooding cellars and doing a great deal
No Serious Damage Done.
While no great damage was done here
by the storm of yesterday and last night,
| for ira in
every household within the District will
make a most respectable whole. Roofs
thought impenetrable gave way before
the watery onslaught, and there was
| hardly one in the city which did not leak
| to some extent The rain drove through
! the doorways of many business houses
/ down town and crept into cellars, dam
! aging goods in greater or less degree.
| Street car traffic was delayed in many
| instances, but not seriously interfered
! with.
! From Georgetown comes a report that
several barns in the country surrounding
! were unroofed and trees uprooted. The
current in the river today was noticeably
swift, as a result of the heavy rains
| through the Potmac watershed.
Telegra phi wires leading to the east were
quite seriously damaged and communica-
ton was almost cut off at one time be-
tween a mum Der of points. The rain and
wind combined to make electric transmits
! sion difficult.
The storm was the first severe disturb
| ance of the autumn Many thought the
blow in Washington last night must have
| been the fringe of a West Indian hurrl-
| cane This was not so. however, for there
were no hurricane tendencies until the New
| England coast was reached. There had
| been a storm lurking down around the
| West Indies last week. however, and il
| may have started the disturbance which
! whirled up the coast yesterday and today.
| Prof. Garriott chief of the forecast di-
vic no tl,a,I
| that the storm first came under the oh
| servation of the bureau Tuesday evening
| Off the Georgia coast. esterday morning
| il was off the South Carolina coast and had
| been so well gauged that storm warnings
| were at once ordered displayed at every
| station from Baltimore to Eastport Me.
| The day before storm signals had flown
| from Norfolk and stations to the south.
| The storm was anticipated by these Signals
by at least twelve hours in every port.
/ Readings From Barometers.
The low in Washington was 29.75, ac-
cordlng to the official barometers. This
| morning at O'clock the mercury stood at
30.14 in the barometic tubes, giving promise
| of continued fair weather At Nantucket
/ where the low became the lowest" the
/ barometer registered %. A.
| Accompanying the area Of high pressure
| which drove the storm from Washington
| there was a decided fall in the temperature.
Yesterday morning at O'Clock the Their
mometer registered go degrees. This morn
| ing at the same hour So degrees was the
| reading. 1t is predicted that tonight the
minimum, will be, 80 degrees. which is dan
gerously pear the frost line. There was
frost yesterday in the valley states, where
the thigh" came from.
| Summer, clothes need not be dotted, how
| ever, according ,5to weather bureau prog
! nostications. for wave of warm weather
Is chasing the present cold snap as speedily
as the "high" pursued the gloomy "low"
of yesterday. Tomorrow will be decidedly
! warmer. and there is no reason to antici-
| pate that fall weather has set In for
| keeps" -
| During forty minutes yesterday no less
than 1.SO inches of rain fell During this
period of Observation. the downpour was
almost like a cloudburst.