The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-03-27
LIGHTS OUT IN SOME DISTRICTS
Wind and lightning Work Havoc with
Wires and Kenosha was Pretty Well
Isolated from the Outside World this
Morning Floods on South Side.

The tail Of the big cyclone which
passed over Isastern Iowa and Western
Illinois carrying death and destruction
in its wake, struck Kenosha county
just after two O'Clock this morning,
bringing one of the worst spring
storms ever known in the history of
the city. For more than two hours
the rain fell in torrents to an accom-
paniment of lightning and thunder
which aroused sleeping Kenosha
The big feature of the storm was
the hot wind which swept over the
prairies to the west of Kenosha at
rate of seventy miles an hour. 1t
blew with such force tnat it leveled
trees and wires and when Kenosha
people went to work this morning they
found the city well nigh isolated from
the remainder of the world. There
were only few wires standing be-
tween the city and Chicago and serv-
ice north from Kenosha was badly in
terrupted. The big wind Of this morn
ing completed the wire havoc started
by the storm Of Friday morning.
During the storm one of the trans
formers of the Wisconsin Gas and
Electric Company was struck by light
ming and one Of the largest CONNER
cial circuits of the company was put
out of commission. People living in
the big territory south of Prairie
avenue and east Of Ashland avenue
were left without any light except the
occasional flashes of lightning. At the
office Of the Western Union Telegraph
Company this morning the only station
that could be caught by wire was Zion
City and this company accepted all
messages subject to delay. At the of
flee of the Postal company it was Ge-
clared that single wire was working
both north and south of Kenosha, but
that nothing could be promised beyond
these TWO points.
|. There was lots of trouble for the
construction men of the Kenosha Home
Telephone Company this morning and
forty or fifty phone stations were out
in the city while the rural lines were
SO badly tangled that it was impossi-
bic to test out any Of them. Big
gangs were put to work on the city
lines early this morning and the wire
chief declared that service at all of
the phone stations would be restored
during the day.
The blanket of snow and ice which
had covered Kenosha since Friday
morning fell an easy victim to the
warm west wind and this morning the
city was practically freed from ice and
snow.
The weather man is promising more
snow and possibly very cold weather
for tonight and Tuesday.
Floods following the thaw and the
heavy rams did great damage In the
second and third wards of the city.
The receiving well Of the trunk sewer
at Pleasant street became clogged
with rubbish and the water poured
over the banks and stretched over
large territory of the adjacent lands.
Ashland avenue and Chicago street
were completely covered with water
and the pavement on the avenue was
badly damaged by the floods. Water
flowed into more than a dozen cellars
and big gang of men were kept at
work for several hours this morning
seeking to find an outlet for the water.
At noon Engineer Brennan reported
that the danger from the floods was
passed. The council will probably
take some immediate action to pro-
vide for some new arrangement for
receiving well.