The Republican journal., 1915-07-15
A MIDSUMMER STORM.
A Northeast Gale and Heavy Rainfall Do
Much Damage Throughout the State.


Last Thursday night and Friday morning
Maine was visited by pretty close imitation
of a western tornado and cloud-burst 1t was
one of the worst midsummer storms of which
there is any record. At Portland the south
east wind reached velocity of "a miles an
hour, but along the coast it blew more than a
mile a minute at times. The rain came down
in torrents, from to inches falling with
in "a hours. Steam and electric railroad SER
vice was seriously crippled, and in some cases
entirely suspended, and heavy damage was
done to growing crops, roads and bridges and
by the flooding Of cellars and Easements in
which goods were stored. Train service be-
tween Bath and Rockland was suspended be-
cause of serious washouts at Damsriscotta
and Yhomaston and around Bath Trains be-
tween Brunswick and Portland we're held up
by a bad washout between Brunswick and
Freeport and passengers were sent around
Lewiston. Through trains to Bangor and
other eastern points were sent by way of
Lewiston.
At Bayside all but two of the motor boats
anchored or moored off the shore broke adrift
and were thrown up high and Dry on the
beach. A large launch built and owned by
Mr.. Allan D. French, guest at the Northport
Inn, was badly damaged. The launch Louise,
Capt. Decrow weathered the gale. A large
tree on the grounds damaged and there
was all sorts OF trouble with the electric lights
and telephone wires. The sea was SO high
Friday morning that the steamer from Boston
did not make her usual landing, and passengers
for Bayside were obliged to land in Belfast
and drive down. The road near Shore Acres
was washed out, the water pouring over it in
torrents, and on this side, on the road to Bel
fast, culvert was washed out.
Locally no great damage was done, although
in the aggregate the injury to flowers and
vegetable gardens, shrubs and vines would
amount to good deal in the aggregate There
were no losses reported on the water front,
no bridges carried away within the city limits,
and the damage to roads was less than might
be expected. At Little River last Saturday
volume of water four feet deep was pouring
over the dam of the Belfast Water Co. From
the county come reports of washouts on the
roads and damage to growing crops. In some
places cultivated tracts were under water,
A drill boat owned by the Eastern Dredging
Company and valued with it's equipment at
$4,000. lies at the bottom of Penobscot Bay
near Mark Island. That the eight men COM
prisng its crew, did not share its fate, is due
wholly to their quick wittedness. The drill
boat and lighter, lashed together, broke from
the moorings at the entrance of Deer Island
Thoroughfare when the storm at its height
and was in rough water before the crew realiz-
ed its danger. Banged together by the gales
fury the drill boat received damages which
sent it to the bottom in 10 minutes The crew
sprang aboard the lighter, which drifted to-
ward Vinalhaven. The massive 75-foot boom
became loosened from its fastenings and with a
vicious swipe cleared the deck of everything
movable. One of the crew received a bad scalp
wound, but the others sought place of safety.
The crew managed to save one of the falls and
bent it onto the steel bucket, making an
"orange pee" anchor. This was hove over
board and finally held as the lighter was with
in few rods of a jagged reef. The injured
man was taken off in small power boat and
the lighter with the other seven was towed to
Carvers Harbor, Vlnalhaven Friday afternoon
by the tugs Betsy Ross and Sommers N.
Smith.