The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1909-05-06
TIDAL WAVE IN THE HARB0R
Jerome Greek OverfIows it's Bank and
Leaves Path of -Culverts
Are Washed Out and Cellars
Filled With Water
(From FRIDAYS Daily.)


Greek rushing out of its bounds made
lakes on all the fiat lands in the south
and western parts of the city. Nor
was this all for with the end of the
terrific fall of rain the water in the
lake rose in a tidal wave and swept
over the water front of Kenosha caus-
ing great damage.
The night was one of the worst
nights ever known in Kenosha and be-
fore six O'Clock many of the stores
had closed for the day. The theatres
were deserted after supper and most
of them did not open their doors for
the evening at ALL Hail and sleet fell
for more than two hours without any
let up and the hail cut the telephone
and telegraph wires so that by six
clock the last wire connecting Ke
nosha and Chicago had been cut out.
Even the Northwestern Railway Com
pany was left without wire for use in
the dispatching of trains. Chicago was
reached by telephone by way of High
land Park, but at ten O'Clock this
service was interrupted and Kenosha
was completely isolated from the out
side world until after midnight when
a wire was fixed up by which Chicago
was reached by telephone. Local tele-
I, .n4a
ferred with in Kenosha, but the wind
which accompanied the rain and hail
blew down many wires in the various
parts of the city. Live wires were
guarded by police officers and interest
led citizens in several places during the
storm. All the companies, having wires
in the city had men at work all dur
ing the storm, but they were unable to
keep track of all the breaks and they
will be forced to work all day today
in order to get service restored.
The most spectacular feature of the
night of storms came just after ten
0 'clock when tidal wave swept over
the lake and into the Kenosha Harbor.
In less than a minute the water rose
to height of six feet above the nor
NAL and this great volume of water
which swept into the harbor with a
roar like the roar Of musketry, swept
everything before it. 1t completely
nd
washed off everything of movable
nature Many of the houses along the
lake were in danger and the big foun-
dry of the Simmons Manufacturing
Company had more than Is inches of
water in it.
Every one Of the smaller boats in tue
harbor was torn from their moorings
and Captain Fountain and the members
of the life saving crew were kept busy
for hours picking up these boats. Eight
boats were picked up by the crew, but
lit is thought that several boats were
carried out into the lake when the
great rush of water receded. The
water remained in the harbor for less
than fifteen minutes, but in that, time
| it wrought havoc. A portion of the
government crib was torn away and
the breakwater all along the water
front was badly damaged. The water
swept over the breakwater along Eichel7
man Park with such force that the
vast deposit of dumpings along the
breakwater was picked up and carried
over into the park and this morning
the park looked more like dumping
ground than a park. Men were put to
work this afternoon to clean up the
| park, but it will take some time to get
the work completed. The boat house
(which stood for years at the south end
of Eichelman Park was picked up and
carried out into the lake only to be
returned and thrown against the
breakwater few hundred feet from its
original site. Great damage was done
to the unprotected water front in the
south part Of the city and ST. Mary IS
summer home suffered great deal of
loss on account of the storm. This
morning great crowds visited the lake
shore to witness the havoc that had
been wrought by the waters.
Jerome Creek was out of its bank
early Thursday evening and it flooded
the property surrounding it SO that in
some places the property was under
two feet of water this morning. Gel
lars were filled with water and several
small buildings were taken from their
foundation. One of the unique Incl
dents was the picking up of chicken
coop with a bunch of little chicks In
lit. 1t had been taken from some place
lin the western part of the city and
carried down to Chicago street. The
chicks were still alive and they will be
returned to their owner. The culvert
at Park avenue gave way during the
storm and the city will be forced to
rebuild a portion Of it at once.
Jerome Creek reached its highest
point at three o 'clock this morning and
at that time the water was flowing