Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-07-10

CHARACTER OF STORM.
Part of central and eastern
system.
~Thunder gust"
In the 36-mile gale which sprang
up late yesterday afternoon and
threatened to become a young cy-
e1One. and in the heavy rainfall
which accompanied and followed
the wind, crops and power lines
suffered the chief damages.
An abrupt drop in the barom-
eter and thermometer late in the
Afternoon confirmed the breaking of
the storm, and from observations
of the weather bureau the maxi
mum velocity of the following wind
was Sc miles per hour in FIVE min
utes. Rain fall to the depth of l
inch in Is minutes, while the total
rainfall was 1.8S inches.
Crops were affected in opposite
ways by the two phases of the
storm. The ground was dry and
the corn needed water, SO that the
rain which fell was beneficial in
that way. The wind, however, sue
ceeded in doing a small amount OF
damage to the corn and oats by
>plOWing them over. Neither Of
tARse were greatly harmed because
they are not yet topheavy and will
regain an upright position within a
short time. Wheat, rye, early oats
and barley are generally shocked
up and past the possibility Of in
jury.
Electricity did not cause any Of
the usual trouble in Rock Island
yesterday, although the lightning
was active. All damage reported
was a direct result of the wind We
locity. Three separate power syS-
TENS were leVeled at the corner of
teenth avenue, when one of the
forks of a big double tree was
split on by the wind and the weight
Of the downpour, dragging a 80
line telephone post with it. Their
combined weight knocked the troll
ley wire of the Tri-City Railway
company Long View line fiat upon
the ground, and thereby discom-
NODDED several hundred business
people homeward bound, as the
cars were tied up and emergency
connections were confused. Most
of them were compelled to finish
their trip on foot through the
cloudburst. The big tree also fat
tened a wire on the opposite side of
the avenue, carrying electric light
ing current of the local power com
pany, but this wire did not break
nor short circuit because of its ten
sile strength and insulation. Street
caes were put out of commission
ipeshe same way at other points in
The city also.
Phones Are Out.
Twisted, broken and fallen tele-
phone wires, as well as broken
supporting posts, due either to the
wind directly or to the falling of
uprooted or broken trees, created
chaos in the telephone traffic dur
ing and for some time after the
storm. Repair gangs are rapidly
getting these lined up again today,
but telephone service last night
was tied up. Several important
trunk lines, both to the east and
west, and the north and south were
blown down and out of use. Sew
eral portions of the county were
completely cut of from outside or
local service, while even the bus
mess phones Of Rock Island were
out of order for a while. The fac
tor of the free electric currents
from the lightning did enter into
this situation to some extent.
The tri-cities were directly in the
path Of this storm, as it moved |
from the northwest to the south
east, and took the full shock of it's
impact, although its wings |
out for several miles on |
either side. It's wake is not marked |
~ any great damage and that !
which ensued will be righted with
in the week. However the minia-
ture twister caused some excite
ment while it lasted, and more than |
one family looked with speculation
at safe places in the cellar.
Is %Thunder Gust"
Thunder gust" is the technical
name given this class of storm. The
low pressure area, where the most
violent disturbances took place was
somewhere in northern Wisconsin
Dr. Michigan late yesterday after
noon and the thunder storms were
general between the western states
md New England. The wind was
he accompaniment of the heavy
ain and the sudden contact of
strata of air of different densities
Ind temperatures
1000 Phones Out.
It is understood that about one
thousand telephones are out of
in Rock Island as a re-
Iult OF the heavy wind. Most of
he damage is due to cable trouble.
With only two cable repfHrmen on
land, the situation is grave and it
will be necessary to i'm
,ort men to help repair the dam
Lge with a minimum loss Of time.
Many business house phones are