Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-09-02
DAMAGE BY STORM
Heavy Rain Strikes This Locality
for Several Hours Last
Night.
LIGHTNING CAUSES FIRES
McMichael Barn Burns Near Milan
DunaVin House Struck-Streets
Are Flooded.

The storm which passed over the
three cities last night was one of the
heaviest rains in years for the time ii
was on. Beginning early in the even
ming, the rain fell heavily until 1920
the time of the heaviest fall 1t fell in
torrents, and for few minutes prob.
ably surpassed all records. In the
midst of the heaviest rain a small
amount of hail fell
The rain was accompanied by severe
electrical storms. and a strong wind
Trees were broken, one house was
twisted from its foundations, and sew
eral chimneys were blown off by the
wind AS far as is known only one
house in Rock Island was struck by
| lightning, that of z. H. Dunavin, Fiji
teenth street and Eighth avenue Sever
| al trees in the woods in South Rock
| Island were shattered by lightning. and
in Moline and Davenport several build
ings were struck
Joseph DeGroots new home on Thir-
teenth street, just south of the city lin
its, was twisted from its foundation by
the wind. The house was not com
pletal. Two houses less than two
propped up off of the foundations, but
neither of these were affected by the
wind.
McMichaeI Barn Burns.
The barn on the farm of Charles Me-
Michael, south of Milan, was totally
destroyed, including all the hay and
grain and chickens. Three horses
which were in the barn, were killed in
stantly. The barn was struck by light
ming, and the hay quickly ignited. The
loss will be at least $1,000 The barn
was owned by Mrs. NJ. J. w. Matthews,
and with its contents was insured
E. II. Dunavin's residence. which
was struck by lightning. was only
slightly damaged. The bolt caught n
corner. removing the shingles, but 9TH
erwise not damaging the building
The water quickly filled the storm
drains and catch basins, and water in
the downtown streets rose above the
curbings and overlooked the sidewalks
leaving them covered with sand and
clay. 1t was finally carried off
through the drains. The Easements
of large number of business houses
were flooded with several inches of
water which the drains were unable to
carry away, causing some damage to
goods in storage.
Wires Affected.
Telephone service was considerably
affected by the storms. and a number
of buildings We're deprived of electric
light by the storm. The lights at the
postoffice were burned out Long dis
lance telephone service and telegraph
service was somewhat crippled as a
result of the storm. Railway traffic |
was slightly delayed east of Rock Is
land.
The Fourteenth avenue pavement, |
which has not been completed, was |
but slightly damaged by the heavy. |
to the surprise of those in |
charge. The only damage was in the I
caving in of excavations for water and
sewer connections, and the pavement,
though newly laid, was not injured
The storm last night was the first |
drenching rain in nearly two months,
and was but the second experienced |
locally this summer. The fall was 2:72
inches
All kinds of wild rumors were circu-
lated this morning with reference to
fires last night, which were without
The Black Hawk inn still
stands at the Watch Tower, and ac-
,ording to last reports the half of Mi
an that was said to be burned is still
safe
Mrs Myers, who conducts a dairy
arm in South Rock Island. and lost
several cows by lightning in the last
storm had another one II,
Tiled last night.