The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1912-05-09
FLOOD GATES
OPENED WIDE
HEAVIEST RAINFALL KNOWN TO
THIS SECTION OCCURS THE
PAST WEEK.
4.6 INCHES FAL n FOUR HOURS
ROOD Does Much q age in Bookings
City and Count, = Railroad Track
washed Out st Of Here.

The heaviest raj E IL in the history
of this section occl & d last Thursday
evening, when bet 3 II the hours of
six and ten O'Clock inches OF rain
which did thousands Of dollars worth
of damage in the city and surrounding
country.
1t rained a little Thursday after
noon, but the big storm did not com.
mence until shortly before six o'clock.
1t grew gradually worse and between
the hours of seven and nine o'clock
he flood gates We're opened wide, the
rain literally pouring down in tor
ents. The rainfall continued steadily
until about ten-thirty o'clock, when it
eased a little for the space of an hour
and then recommended, to contiue at
intervals the balance of the night.
By eight o'clock the streets in the
lower part of the city were veritable
rivers, the water standing a foot deep
on the sidewalks on all the streets for
a block off of Main. The latter is
graded high and this acted as a dam
which backed the water up on the
two east blocks. At eight o'clock the
road between the Register office and
Main street was under two feet of
water and it gradually rose until it
was three feet deep at eleven o'clock.
Third and Fifth streets were nearly as
bad, and there was two feet of water
on lower Sixth street.
Every cellar and some of the ground
floors in the business section were
filled, and those business houses oc-
cupying Easements suffered especially.
Farrand's barber shop under the
Farmers National bank was filled to a
depth of five and one-half feet, the
water rising over the barber chairs,
and it came in with such a rush that
there was no time to carry out the
fixtures. The water damaged the fix
lures considerably and Mr.. Farrand
could not reopen the shop until Tues
day. His loss is about 5000. In the
bowling alley in the same building
there was an equal amount of water
and the damage to the alleys n fix
lures will be considerable. c. d. Ken
dali will suffer a loss of about five
hundred dollars, as his basement filled
up and a large amount Of stock was
rendered valueless. The New Furni-
ture store lost several hundred dollars
worth of bedding and furniture. Mar
vim & Sons plumbing shop was filled
to the windows, but on account of the
nature of the stock their loss will not
be a heavy n The first foor of the
Register office was covered with two
feet of water and there was a con-
siderable loss in paper stock. The
basement of the telephone plant was
flooded, putting the generators out OF
business and stopping service for the
balance of the night. The power plant
managed to keep running, although
the basement was flooded and the
force worked heroically to keep the
water away from the machinery.
Nearly every business house suffered
losses from stock stored in the cellars
and the aggregate will amount to
about five thousand dollars.
The flood receded slowly, the sewers
being for the most part temporarily
clogged up, but by Friday morning
most of the water had disappeared
from the streets. and By that night
most of the Easements had been
drained.
The storm was not a general one,
although it covered the greater part
of Bookings and Deuel. counties and
adjoining counties in Minnesota.
Brookings was on the western edge
of the storm and it was reported to
have been the heaviest east n north
of White. In the vicinity of Aurora
and north of there and in and around
Bushnell it was also very heavy. A
large amount of damage was done in
the country east Of here and the loss
there will run into the thousands. h
flood swept down the lowlands east OF
this city along Deer creek, carrying
before it small outbuildings, fences,
machinery and other movable proper
ty, and drowning a large number OF
head OF stock. 1t has been impossible
to get a correct line On the amount OF
damage done, but a large number OF
farmers in that section are reported
to have each lost anywhere from TWEEN