The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-04-20
RAIN CAUSES
DAMAGE; NOT
OvER-.:MOoRE
Main Street Temporary
Bridge Closed Even to Pc
destrians, as Filings Sway
Plant Slightly Affected.
OvERFLOWS IN COUNTY

With two inches of rainfall within
the last II hours, Richmond and
Wayne county are seriously threatened
by rapidly rising waters. The Is foot
rise of the Whitewater at the foot of
the Main street bridge partly crippled
service at the Municipal Light plant,
Tuesday.
According to w. E. Moore, weather
forecaster, the climax Of the present
storm will reach Richmond and Wayne
county late Tuesday afternoon or Tues
day night. He predicts a deluge of
water greater than any yet exper-
fenced.
He also announces there Is no
prospect of let-up as another general
storm is forming over the Rocky noun
tains.
The rapidly rushing stream forced
water through the intake pipes of the
light plant into the basement, Grip
pling condenser motor. Steam pump
and hand bailing prevented a general
shutdown.
Bridge Is Closed.
The pilings of the temporary bridge
! at the foot of Main street have been
weakened to such an extent that only
! the braces are keeping them in place.
| by city officials and no traffic is per-
mitted. Pedestrians are using the
| partly completed concrete bridge.
Street car service has been cut off
| to the west side. Cars come to the
| foot of Main street hill and to the
| top of Temporary hill, and passen-
gers obtain transfers. Interurban
traffic into Richmond from the west
| is slightly delayed. Passengers are
taken on at the west side car barns.
Whitewater Over.
| Reports from the rural districts are
to the effect that the Whitewater and
all tributaries are out of their banks.
The Abington-Centerville pike, about
three-fourths of mile from Arlington,
| has sunk about a foot because of a
washout. Noland's Fork is out of it's
banks and is rapidly spreading over
the lowlands.
Walter Vossler, Of the pumping sta
tion, reports that one branch of the
Whitewater river is out of its banks
but he does not expect the pumping
station to be affected.
| Passenger service on the Pennsyl-
vania and c. and o. railroads is con-
siderabIy delayed because of instruc-
tions posted by officials to train
crews to use extreme precautions"
| The creek and rivers near Sommer-
sville are reported out of their banks,
and trains between Richmond and
Cincinnati are forced to run very slow
| ly. No washouts on this division
have been reported.
Two Killed Near cincy.
The engineer and fireman of Penn
sylvania passenger train number 2015,
enroute from Cincinnati to Columbus,
were killed about s a. m. Tuesday,
when the engine ran into a washout
near Morrow. Ohio, completely bury
ing the engine and tender. Four pas
sengers are reported seriously In
| jured.
The National Automatic Tool COM
pany was forced to suspend opera
tions for 80 minutes Tuesday morn
ing because Of lack of power. 1t
resumed normal operations Tuesday
afternoon, however.
Bottoms Under Water.
The rapid rise of the river and the
swollen current has caused the White
water bottoms south of town, to stand
10 feet under water, according to
Will Turner, farmer in that locality.
He says that water is four feet deep
in fields surrounding the bottoms,
|
and fields. The Arlington pike is
washed out near Lip creek, and other
roads in the district are threatened.
The water is flushing over Morton
lake dam with a greater force than in
the last high water in that vicinity.
The river for time threatened
Happy Hollow, but the subsequent
slight fall saved the neghborhood.
William Bailey, of the Richmond
Telephone company, says that little
wire trouble has been experienced be-
cause of excessive rains. Wires were
down in parts of the county, however.
Richmond telegraph companies report
the same conditions.
| The Smith Construction company
succeeded in getting most Of its ma
chinery and equipment out of the dan
ger zone, but several pieces were
washed away The small dam main
tanned by the city light plant was also
washed away.
Reports received from Greensboro
and Hagerstown are to the effect that
although streams in that section are
out of their banks, no material dam
age has been done. The water is
standing four feet in fields in low
lands.