The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-24
RAINS Destroy
AND CONFUSE
Qoudbursts Ruin and
Hinder Progress.
MONTGOMERY STREETS AWASH
Houses In vcsuvius Practically
Afloat.
River lsi.ing aad Danger stage. Way
BE Reached--Ham Added TO
Damase 70 Growing
Things.
MONTGOMERY STREETS AwASH

Il
could wish. but the pleasant weathe
with slight rains was too promising
The downpour came yesterday an,
havoc In the matter of washouts oil
the railroads to the south of the city
trees blown down. storm sewers over
flowing gardens ruined within the cit,
limits show the fierceness OF the rail-
and wind.
The storm OF yesterday was mucl
nercer to the South Of Montgomery
Even In the southern portions Of tn,
city more rain. fell and a stronger wine
| was recorded than In other portions Of
town. Hail recorded in the storm about
1880 o'clock yesterday morning seem,
ed to be more abundant in the south
ern limits.
But the northern suburbs of Mont.
gomery did not escape. While neither
the wind nor the hail was so heavy In
vesnvius. the rain accumulated faster
In some portions OF Vesuvius whole
blocks Of negro houses were practical
ly floating ON the mood. On the streets
in some instances .fiatboats and impro-
vised RATS were pressed into use. The
street car tracks along the railroad
yards was under water several inches
all during the day.
| With the exception Of the destruction
! Of gardens in the southern portion OF
the city by the hail and wind there
| was no great damage done 20 property.
On Hull Street and also on Decatur.
large trees on the sidewalks were COM
pletely uprooted. A magnificent tree
In front Of Judge J. B. Fuller's res
idence on South Hull Street. was up
| rooted by the wind and in falling COW
| cred the front piazza OF the house. On
Decatur Street many small trees were
uprooted, resulting In blockading the
sidewalk.
II was reported that concrete walls
| In Capitol Heights were undermined by
the foods of water and thrown to the
ground. Sidewalks on all hills were
covered to a depth Of several inches
with mud. and in few cases the pave
| ment itself was undermined.
street Car Service Maintained.
With the exception of the water COW
ering the tracks of the Traction Com
pany on the Riverside line and the
complete blockading Of the Cloverdale
line at the curve at Fielder Street,
street cars kept a fair schedule dur
ing the day. Only when the rain was
heaviest did the cars have dif1culty in
throwing OF switches.
The rain was general over the entire
South yesterday. being especially heavy
| in Mississippi. Alabama and Georgia.
| In those three States the reports of the
weather stations showed that there
| had been an immense rainfall. At
Vicksburg 3.s2 inches Of rain fell up
to Z o'clock yesterday morning. In
Montgomery up to the same time. 2.42
inches had fallen. and from o'clock
yesterday morning up until 2 o'clock
p. m. the Weather Bureau recorded an
| additional Ill inches, making the to-
| tai rainfall up to o'clock yesterday
afternoon 1881 inches.
Rain Heavy and General.
Reports of the Weather Bureau show
an average of two inches of rain has
fallen over the water sheds of the
Coosa, Tallapoosa and Alabama rivers
up until o'clock yesterday morning.
| The greatest amount of rainfall re-
corded yesterday was during the thun-
der storm about 1880 o'clock yester-
| day morning, when 81 inches were
| recorded In ten minutes. The wind
during this downpour was twenty-five
miles per hour.
Hail yesterday was recorded for
three minutes, the stones being about
| the size of filberts. In the town sec
| ton of the city and in the northern
portions, the fall was not great. but
in the southern suburbs the fall was
greater and more prolonged. The
wind velocity was also much greater.
Fortunately for farmers living along
been so great over the upper sections
of the Coosa. the total fall recorded
up to o'clock yesterday afternoon
being Gadsden 1870 inches, Rome 1885
inches. Canton 1876 inches. The heavy
| rain has started rapid rises in the
lower Coosa and the Alabama river,
Rivers Are Rising.
At o'clock yesterday afternoon the
| following stages were reported to the
local bureau
At Montgomery a stage of 1O.6 feet
| with the stream rising at the rate or
a foot per hour; at Wetumpka a stage
of Is feet and rising at the rate of
| a foot per hour. lesser stages up the
river showed less rapid rises and lower
| stages.
At the weather bureau office where
| river bulletins keep the section direc-
tor hourly posted. reports indicated
| that the rapid rises would continue
through the night. with steady but
slower rises during the coming two
| or three days.
Taking into consideration the in
flows into the rivers in sight up to 2
o'clock yesterday. 1t was thought that
| a stage of rs feet, or a rise of Is feet
would be recorded by this morning.
A stage of % feet was predicted for
| Selma and a stage of rs to % feet for
wetumpka. If the heavy rain area
moves northeastWard, as 1t is proba BILE
it will do and the heavy rains con-
tinue over the upper Coosa and Ala
| bama, higher stages than those given
may be expected.
| It is thought that 1t would be well
| for those interested to prepare for a
possible stage of 80 feet and over on
this rise. A stage OF 80 feet will car
ry the water of the Alabama just over
the low ground opposite the foot OF
Commerce Street.
The Montgomery office received
from the Mobile office which has
| charge of the Tombigbee river system
an advisory message to the effect that
warning bulletins had been issued by
that office for so foot stage at Tusca-
| loosa within the next two days. AT
| Demopolis the rise is expected to ex-
| coed a stage of AZ feet within the next
seven days.
The cause of the heavy rain was a
| storm centre over the lower Missis-
sippi valley yesterday the centre OF
| which moving eastward. BY this
| morning this storm centre is expected
| to have moved off and that taiI
weather will prevail over this entire
section with slightly cooler weather
| The temperature drop. however. will
not be very great.
RAinstOrm in Houston.
Dothan. March a. Especial. --Quitt
a rain and electric storm visited this
section last night. and 1t is feared