The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-09
HOUSES ARE WASHED FROM FOUNDATION
 DURING TRANSFORM
Street Car System Practical ly Suspended Last Night. Telephone Conduits
 Flooded

| HS HSdNy OOWHpOuT Ol
 rain that has fallen in and
 around Birmingham for the
 past two days continued un-
 abated last night, the sudden
 outburst that started just after
 dark completely flooding sev-
 eral sections of the city and
 causing cessation of prac-
 tically the whole street car
 system, and rendering useless
 a number of the circuits of the l telephone system.
 Houses in the vicinity of the A. B. X
 A. railroad offices on Greene street were
 washeI from their foundations, some of the occupants ping. while others were | unable to leave their homes. 1 Call for relief was sent in from the residents of the section where the water
 was playing havoc. and relief cars were sent to the places to render all possible l assistance Up to a late hour last night
 no casualties lad been reported HOUSES FLOATING Six CT seven houses were noticed float | ing in this section, and one turned over and vas lying Party submerged in the water. The residents of this vicinity are | largely negroes, several familiss living | in each of these cottages. The water in the vicinity of Charles street was reported to be from four to six feet deep. anc that it was impossible l in some places to go from one street to another.
 The Tidewater street car system was practically abandoned, and six lines Of the B. H-, l.. O P. Co suspended suddenly last night. owing to flooded sections Of the track and traffic. particularly to and from the suburbs of Birmingham, was 1 discontinued al an early hour last night. SUBWAY FLOODED At the Terminal station, where the Tidewater runs into the subway, the of all traffic on the line from Birming-
 ham proper to East Lake and other points in East Birmingham. The rains fled the right of way along the street railway lines at Tuxedo sta- tion, while there have been several wash outs reported in places near South Ems ley.
 The rain continued to fall during prac- tically the entire day yesterday, and the downpcur was unabated except for a few moments. An extra heavy downpour was visited on the city shortly after dark, and continued for several hours until the streets were again flooded.
 The cars of the B. R., l.. X P. Co, run ming to West End, South Ensey, North Bessemer, Boyles, East Lake and the Avenue c line were shut down suddenly, following the torl ent of rain that com menced to pour shortly after dark last night. The water along the six lines was reported last night to be eight or ten inches deep in some places, and on ac- count Of this it was practically imposSi- ble to run the cars
 A cessation of the rain during the carly morning hours. which would give the water time to run off is hoped for by the operators of the street car systems, who stated that the cars would be put in operation soon as this happened.
 TELEPHONE LINES
 late report from George Knox, district manager of the Bell Telephone and Telc- graph company, was to the effect that numoer>of conduits of tke company's lines which are laid underground. had been affected by the water. and that the com pany last night ewere experiencing more trouble at this che time than they had in the whole of the past year,
 Should the raiL continue this morning. it was stated by MT. Knox. approxi- matelv 25O0 phones in the city of Bic mingham wonli be affected
 He stated that it was impossible to undertake to repair the short circuits that had been caused by the water soak ing into the cables, as to attempt to re- pair them while the rain was still fading would mean the damaging of more cir cults that were carried by the cables.
 It will take several days after the rain has stopped, he stated. before the tele- phone system could be brought to normal again.