The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-03-17

morning, a number OF families be-
.ng forced to abandon their homes,
Stock, hogs and chickens we're drowned
IN low places and much damage was
lone TO land in the vicinity.
The county commissioners early Mon
day were without adyices from Collier
Vile, and the eastern section Of the
or from roads leading toward
Millington, Kerrville and other towns
IN that section.
Firemen and salvage corps men were
on the jump throughout Sunday. Calls
10 the salvage corps from the ele-
and warehouses Of John Wade
e. Sons, @. u. Patteson s. Co. and from
various other commercial houses as
well as homes. However, salvage COW
cTs keep water from the top, but are
useless when 1t encroaches from the
Earlier in the day al lsyphons Of the
Memphis salvage corps had been loaned
to the city engineer department for SER
vice.
At the home OF Sam ~stelnberg,
636 Poplar avenue, wind blew a hatch
from the roof. A salvage car an
swered the alarm and men OF its crew
made their way to the o and righted
the hatch again. All this time the resi-
dence was being drenched with rain
that poured in through the aperture.
From early Sunday until late that
night the phones at the central police
office and the Barksdale stations were
buZzing with requests from persons
for the aid of the police in assisting
them from various predicaments caused
by the rains and flood,
Nearly every instance was beyond the
power Of policemen or the departments
equipment, and the pleas were referred
TO the fire department or else informa-
tiG.s was givn as to how n where
succor could be obtained. No reports
Of drowning or accidents resulting IN
hurts to persons were recorded at the
police stations.
Landmark Gone.
The old two-story brick building
which has stood for nearly a hundred
years on Union avenue, near East
street, fell in during Sundays storm,
and what remains of It will be ordered
torn down at once by the city building
inspector.
The building stood pom a high bank
on the north side OF the street, having
been left suspended almost like Ma
homed's coffin when the hill on which
1t stood was cut down when the new
grades for Union avenu were estah-
lished 10 or more years ago. The rains
Sunday washed away the bank and
first the east wall fell, while during the
night the south wall also collapsed. The
building was occupied by a family, who
left 1t about noon, Just before one wall
fell, but left their furniture behind.
The flood rushing along Union avenue
at that point was so heavy Sunday that
it inundated the 63S Tire company
plant and ran the employees out, and
also flooded the Standard Oil station
nearby.
Storm Sewers Clogged.
All over the city from noon Sunday
the storm sewers were choked up, the
streets ran with swirllng yellow floods
from curb to curb, and thousands Of
cellars were filled with the water which
backed up into the yards and doorways
from the constantly swelling floods in
the streets.
Wide lakes of turbid yellow water,
resembling the overflows of years ago
before the levees were built, filled va
cant lots and every low point in the
city streets.
Thousands Of cellars were filled with
water long before Sunday night, and
pumps and other forms OF emptying the
cellars were in brisk demand all day
Monday.
around several Of the oil filling stations
but their Sunday business was light,
as few autoists braved the fury of the
wind and rain during Sunday or Sun
day night,
For half a block in either direction
ITDn l0b llltIStClluH oL IUplhl aNGHI
nue. and WatkinsA the water covered
Poplar for a depth Of from two to fiveNI
rect deep, and blocked the cars for a
long time and negro houses along Goose
neck creek and south Of Poplar ave-
niue were surrounded for hours.
Bishop Thos. Il. Gailor had intended
holding confirmation services at st,
Luke's Episcopal church Sunday night,
but the storm was so severe, that 1t
was found few of those to have been
confirmed could be present, members
OF the choir were waterbound and after
many telephone calls, the service was
abandoned.
Many Homes Flooded.
Al Binghamton a score Of negro
dwellings were inundated soon after
noon Sunday and the occupants had to
wade out carrying such Of their valu-
ables as they could gather. The real
property damage there was not heavy,
The water rose all around the Sec
ton near Scott avenue and Phillips
street, the cause being the choking UP
Of the culyert under the l.. e. N. rail-
road tracks.
The culvert, according to Mayor J.
s. Hicks, is only a 24-inch pipe, which
chokes up during every rain. Sunday
there was a good sized lake about 10
feet deep there covering several acres.
BY Monday at 10 o'clock the water was
falling in that section. Mayor Hicks
| has tried for months to get the rail-
road management to put in a 4S-inch
| culvert at the point where the over
flow occurred. he stated Monday,
At Raleigh it was said there was no
particular damage. Wolf river was
bank full there a week ago and the
last rain probably will send it much
higher,
Residents Of Raleigh. however, who
had business In Memphis found them
selves cut Off by the break in the tracks
Of the Raleigh line OF the street rail-
way system. BY noon, however, the
water along the tracks where the wash
out had occurred had run off sufficient
~ to permit those who had urgent busi-
ness to walk across the three or four
hundred yards where the tracks were
washed out. and get cars at either end.
nm pEkVEp NP0MMC.