The Mankato free press., 1916-07-21
Storms Did Lot of Damage;
Stalled Street Cars
HELD UP PEDESTRIANS
Rainfall Was More Than Two
Inches; Rise of the
Minnesota
From Saturdays Daily.

ed the lid and gave Mankato drench
ing the likes of which the town ha
seldom experienced. Streets wer
made to look like raging torrents
Easements were deluged, houses wer
moved on their foundations, railroa
tracks were washed away, traffic de
layed, the work being done by tn
Widell company on the concret
bridge was damaged to the extent O
$4,000. Sewers were unable to ac
commodate the water that accumu
lated in the streets and these becam
canals. In word, Mankato was no
prepared for cloudburst.
The first heavy rain fell at abou
seven o'clock 1t continued to rail
at intervals until about eleven O'clocl
when the clouds seemed to open vi
and the water fell in sheets. Thi'
continued for more than an hour.
Streets Were Flooded.
Warren street from Fifth to Thirt
was last night raging river. lts
waters were received from Glenwooc
avenue, Warren Creek, Silver Ravint
hill, and Fifth street and other sur
roundings. 1t was generally agreed
this morning that there must have
been a cloudburst. The waters poured
down upon Broad street and flooded
that and Second for many blocks tc
such an extent that the streets were
impossible except to those who were
able to wade in rushing water, six
inches to foot deep.
On Warren street it was deeper
than that. Here even street cars and
automobiles could not possibly run
ing rivulet, two to three feet deep
would have been foolhardy.
The hill car was absolutely stalled
1t could run from Fourth and Warren
to Willard and Front, back and forth
AT Willard and Front the heavy rain
fall had washed great pile of earth
and sand over the track, so that the
car could not possibly pas. This was
the condition last evening between
ten and eleven o'clock.
Streets Were Flooded.
The tremendous gathering of water
that rushed down upon the principal
business streets of the city, largely
from Warren street, but also from
many other avenues leading down
from the higher places, flooded a
large part of Front street. Ladies
who boarded at the saulpaugh hotel
were carried across the streets by
gentlemen, in order to get to that
hostelry. In many places the water
swept over the sidewalks. Many were
the easements that were flooded.
Eorl,, in tho p,orpipo tho NOUS of
the great loss, due to flooding, in the
basement of the Kruse Brothers
Clothing store, was a topic of con-
versation. But the talk about the
havoc wrought to the Widell bridge
outfit was a subject of even greater
comment. ',"
A circumstance that illustrates the
widespread havoc of the storm was
the fact that on Jackson street in
front of the Free Press office there
lay two dead chickens that had been
washed out from their coops and car
ried down with the flood
Reports of chickens drowning in
the Poplar street district were num-
,erous. The Rabe family was said to
have lost ninety. The Oglesby, Clark
and other families of that neighbor-
hood are reported to have suffered
losses of chickens in like manner.
Warren creek was such a raging
torrent last night that the culverts
were totally inadequate to carry off
more than a small fraction of the
water. Trees were borne down the
great ravine and acted as battering
rams, wreaking havoc in their path.
Dwellings Were Damaged.
Two dwellings, at 316 GlenwOod
avenue, and just below that place,
were badly damaged The concrete
foundation and floor of the porch
in front of the dwelling where v. B.
Jeuneman lives, at 316 Glenwood
avenue, owned by Soren Johnson, was
completely washed out. Here a
tremendous gully was dug, ten feet
deep, exposing the culvert itself
under the ground. The small size of
the culvert was plainly what should
account for the flooding of Glen
wood avenue and vicinity under such
weather conditions as existed last
night. The great gully also exposed
the foundation of the dwelling just
below this, where Mrs. Sophie And
ersOn lives. Here the foundation was
undermined and badly broken in
front
Another remarkable feature of the
havoc was the washing out of a tre-
mendous open space uunder the barn
of John Page near the corner OF
Glenwood avenue and Fifth street
Here space was washed out by the
diverted creek. large enough for an
other barn
A great earthslide took place on the
Silver Ravine road, partly blocking
the highway.
Where Water Is Diverted.
At Warren and Broad streets the
great torrent diverted from Warren
Creek was broadest and deepest. Some
declare that it was here as deep as
four feet. That may be true If one
takes into consideration the fact that
the creosote paving blocks were swell
ed up, forced out of place and swept
along by the food There was great
damage to the creosote block pave.
ment.
The stone wall that holds Broad
street in place between the Hubbard
residence and the home Of Mrs. c. S
~---s-s; $4,000 ~'ss---. - ------------->-----