The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-17
HEAVY RA|NF ALL AT
 KNOXVILLE DOES
 GREAT DAMAGE
Railroad Traffic Blocked, Homes and Factories Flooded and Business
 Houses Impaired


 Knoxville, Tenn" july 16 The heav- fest rainfall in Knoxville in 2S years has done hundreds os thousands of dol- lars damage, blocked railroad traffic, ] flooded 100 homes many mills factories and business houses and impaired street car traffic
 Knoxville ana vicinity were today visited by the greatest rainfall since septembeF 3, 1889, at which time there was a rainfall of 5.sO inches. The pre- cipitation from a. m. to p. m to- tailed 4.G inches. The precipitation since 1 o'clock Saturday afternoon to- tailed S.71 inches. The normal precipi- tation for July Is 4.21 inches. The total to date for this month recorded at the Knoxville station is 1069 Precipitation for two days ending at p. m today 1 is 5.72 inches.
 The heavy rains have resulted in the overfowing of the two creeks which run from north to sou.h through the l city and the flooding of large mum Der of mills, factories and business houses which have been forced to sus- pend operations Homes along these
  and the. inhabitants forced to flee TWO houses have been washed away and at least 100 covered by water. The dam 1 age at this hour (S D. mo is estimated 1 at $100,0O0
 Spur tracks of the southern railway within the city limits have been blocked 1 by slides from the hillsides. On a sid- l ing of the Southern railway in the vii cinity of the Knoxville Gas company's or three feet of water
 1 On the south side of the Tennessee river hundreds of tons of earth, im- mense boulders and giant trees were today swept into the Tennessee river when the face of a bluff 100 feet in height and 200 yards in iengtA gave way.
 1 The mammoth Oconee power plant, lo- cated about 60 miles from Knoxville. and which furnishes light and power to 1 Cleveland Tenn, Knoxville and Mascot of the Knoxville Railway and Light company is under water, the street car service tonight is practically suspended l Only dozen cars are being operated by l power furnished by small individual l motor.
 The heavy rains beginning with Satur- 1 day have been accompanied by terrific l displays of lightning, resulting in two deaths. A riverman named Wilhite was killed Saturday when the lightning was i conveyed into his body through stay l in his umbrella This morning David F.
 Arnold, aged 50, mechanic employed by welding company, was instantly killed when operating a machine at tached to motor.
 ! Several thousand dollars worth of lun-
 Der was lost by the Knoxville Furniture company plant, located on Second creek.
 Various coal companies located along First and Second creeks have also suf- fered heavy losses.
 A track on the rlver belt of the South 1 ern railway industrial line has been sus- pended.
 I Low lying farm sections in the Knox vile district for a distance of 30 to 40 miles have been flooded and the loss in the rural sections will reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 Owing to washout on the main line of the Southern railway at Mascot | miles east of here, passengers are ROW
 being transferred at that point. Ar
 engagements are being made to divert the
 main line traffic at Morristown by the
 Southern's branch road from Knoxville
 to Bristol
 | Indications are for thundershowers to-
 night and Tuesday and the probability is that the already large property loss Il
 this section will be increased.