Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-02
Upper Delaware Valley Strug-
Cling With Tangled Mass
of Debris and Wreckage.
LIGHTNING DESTROYS
SCORE OF BUILDINGS
Railroads, Bridges, Wire Service,
Hotels and Other Property
Greatly Damaged.

Delaware valley struggled today to get
itself untangled from the mass Of debris
and wreckage caused by the cloudburst
Of yesterday. Roadbeds Of the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western and the Penn
sylvania railroads were badly washed.
but the Lackawanna succeeded during
the night In removing hundreds Of tons Of
dirt and rocks from the tracks at Della
ware Water Gap and opening the road
In that section. The damage at Manunka
Chunk. N. J., the junction Of the Penn
sylvania and Laclkawanna railroads, has
not yet been repaired. Here the tracks
were undermined and the operators tow
er was carried away on the rising waters
Of the Delaware river.
A score or more Of barns and other
buildings in Monroe county. where the
storm ragged with fury for four hours.
were struck by lightning and destroyed.
No fatalities were reported. There Is
nothing in local history to compare with
the storm in the neighborhood Of the
water gap. and the thousands of sum-
mer visitors to that resort probably will
never forget their thrilling experience.
Rain Pours Four Hours.
Rain began falling at noon and con-
tinued with cloudburst proportions for
four hours without moments inter-
ruption. The water rushed down the
mountain sides in torrents and wore
gulleys eight and ten feet deep. At the
base OF the mountain stands the Della
ware House. Through this building
the water rushed as though the house
stood in the middle Of stream. The
guests were taken to higher ground.
In the upper section Of Northampton
county, Pa, the storm ragged furiously
for hours. washing out roads and doing
other damage.
Many persons on their. way from
were detained in Easton
during the night Today some of them
continued their journey by trolley to
the Water Gap.
Stroudsburg Center Of Storm.
STROUDSBURG. Pa, August o.
Stroudsburg and the Delaware Gap were
yesterday afternoon the center of a storm
that is said to be unprecedented in the
history Of this section of the state. Seven
and one-half inches Of rain fell between
1890 and 3 o'clock. doing damage esti-
mated at more than $780, No lives
nave been reported lost. Manunka Chunk,
Pen Argyi. Portland and Bangor were
among the other towns to suffer severely.
Hotels at the Delaware Water Gap, many
OF them crowded with summer visitors,
were badly damaged, water mains were
broken and the resort was in darkness
last night through the Gripping OF the
electric light plant.
The railroads were the heaviest losers.
Miles OF track were washed out on the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, the
pennsylvania and the New York, Sus-
Quehanna and Western.
Seven Bridges Washed Away.
At Manunka Chunk the tracks of the
Pennsylvania were carried away for a
distance OF 200 feet and a gully more
than fifty feet deep was cut through the
roadbed. Seven bridges were washed
away on the Bangor and Portland branch
of the Lackawanna railroad, and for
long distances the tracks were destroyed.
All trains on the Pennsylvania railroad
were annulled north of Belvidere. All
the railroads affected have large forces
of men at work repairing the damage.
The hotels at Easton. Portland. this
city and other places were crowded last
night with passengers from the trains
which were stalled.
A telephone operator at Portland was
rendered unconscious by a bolt of light
ming. which struck her switchboard in
the height of the storm.
Wire Service Paralyzed.
Wire communication with Manunka
Chunk. where the storm is believed to
have been the worst, was completely
paralyzed. and a report came that the
Lackawanna tunnel there had caved in.
Along the Delaware river in that vicinity
several hundred camping parties were
washed out and their tents blown down.
At the point OF the gap. near Della
ware Water Gap, thousands Of tons Of
the mountainside slid away. carrying
with it 200 yards of a concrete embank-
ment which supported the roadway and
burying the Lackawanna tracks and part
of freight train that was passing un-
der thirty feet of earth.
A few minutes after the storm broke
the streets in Stroudsburg were bank
full of water, and cellars were rapidly
filled. In East Stroudsburg the rush of
water was SO great that the works of
the International boiler plant were
flooded. and the walls of the factory
bulged SO badly that they will have to
10 INV;