The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-16
Loss of Life and Enormous Damage to Property
 Is Result
STREET COLLAPSES;
 SEVERAL ENGULFED
With the Storm at It's Height, Five Hundred Square Feet of Road way Sinks--Sewer and Gas Pipes Burst

Paris. June 15.-A fhunderstorn "t phenomenal violence tonight ragged over Paris for three hours. Ii caused loss of life and enormous damage to property. The rain flooded the streets and caused the bursting of sewers. In the central fashionable quarter of the city n street caved In, engulffng several pedestrians.
 The number of victims is not known, owing to the danger of approaching the | immense pits resulting from the collapse | of sidewalks and roadways. The police l estimate the victims at seven at least. l The most serious cave-in occurred at the Junction of the Rue La Beetle and the Faubourg Saint Honore. When the storm was at it's height 300 square feet of .he roadway sank, carrying with it a number of persons who had taken shelter under the awning of @ cafe. Water | spurted from the broken mains, and, add l ed to the torrents from the skies, con | verted the wohle district into veritabie river. Gas mains. telephone wires and | the electrical supply was broken off. The | quarter was immediately isolated and l large detachments of police were hastily | summoned. but for long time nothing | could be done owing Co the darkness. | President Poncare sent member of his | military household to the scene, and | troops were ordered to aid the police and | firemen In their efforts at rescue. Suddenly C0llapses l About the same time a large section of | the roadway in the Place Saint Augustin 1 suddenly collapsed. passing taxicab l was engulfed. Eyewitnesses saw wom- ans hand waving from the vehicle. and | the head of the chauffeur as the taxicab l disappeared. Almost immediately great | block of stone fell upon it. large wagonette just missed the same fate. Almost at the beginning of the storm | the roadway at the junction of the Rue l Tronehet, the Rue Auber and the Boule- yard Huassmann, one of the busiest sec | tons of Paris disappeared.
 | Police kept the people away from the 1 roadway, which continued slowly to sub l side. Suddenly q sheet of flames sho | up to the housetops, with terrific de | donation. Gas from broken pipe has
 caught fire, and The crowd, seized will a mad terror, sought satety in the sur | rounding houses.
 l A sewNr burit alongside the subway il | the Rue De Rivoli. putting 1t out of com | mission Another sewer burst in the Rut | l3oissy D'Anglais carrying away many feet of the pavement and flooding the 1 new subway line under the Place de La
 
 Uncover Taxicab 1 By superhurnan exertions, firemen l uncovered the taxicab and removed the bodies of the chauffeur and his passen- ger. Madame Layolti.
 l At the Place saint Philippe Du Roule
 no trace of the bodies could be found | Engineers believe they may have been
 carried away by rhe great rush of wa
 ter which caused the disaster. l A second section of the roadway
 at this point collapsed leaving hols
 lsO feet long. Several persons reported
 relatives missing.
 Every hour adds fresh reports of tn. great havoc wrought by the storm
 both in Paris and the surrounding dis l tricts, which is described as the wors
 In the memory of a generation.
 The Boulevard Ney was inundated {
 a depth of two. feet: the inner belt O
 the railroad was flooded and the trail ] service was stopped. Five worlNme
 were struck by lightning in the Plac De L'Alma and q river steamboat pas sing the bridge at this point was als
 struck
 Close by in the Avenue De Antin, tn
 roadway collapsed leaving a hole 2 feet deep crowded street car wa
 stopped within two feet of the gap. | At Choisy-L Le -Roi, six miles south 0 l Paris. two persons were killed am I eisht seriously injured by lightning | At Saint Denis, ligtning struck am l demolished a wall 100 feet long. Tn l body of a woman was folund in tn wreckage and fl Is thought that ther
 were other victims.