The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-09-25
TULSAN RECTES
STORY OF STORM
C. S. Younkman, City Of
ficial, Was In Middle
of Tropical Storm
HAD A NARROW ESCAPE
Was Prisoner In Ferryboat On
Turbulent Mississippi, Un-
able to Make Land

"Belicvo me. I've got enough of
hurricanes" declared c. 8. Younk-
man water commissioner. upon his
return from New orleans where he
attended the annual convention OF
vaierworks men from the southwest
district, and in which City ne was
"huloted" during the ktorm that
caused SO much havoc this week.
Freaks As Usual. .
Younkman, with about 800 others
attending the convbntion was right
IN the midst OF the storm shortly,
afterIN broke. The wind velocity
n.os trom 40 30 so miles. he said
churches and tall buildings were
blown 70 pieces. Like nearly all
storms this one was freakish,
younk man said Small negro
shacks. built OF dry goods boxes, tin
and plpcr--so frail that one would
have thought .they would topple
over with the first squall--remained
.P,arding and almost untouched by
y tre high wind. Occasionally one
wouid be slightly twisted but re-
main habitable and dry inside. Some
OF those shacks were within so feet
a.
pl,toIv destroyed.
aDid IL rain ?" said Younkman.
"Wcll. Just picture In your mind the
hardest rain YOU ever saw In Tulsa,
whether It was for short or long
dura ion. Then multiply that by
three or four That will give you
some conception Of the rain in New
Orleans Water came down as
though in a solid body, like It was
loirg poured out of dozens Of nam
moth tubs with the streams inter
minc,irg never imagined any
thing ike II. within 20 minutes
after the rain started, the streets
were filled with water clear across
and water had come up over the
sidewalks and entered doors Of
stores Every street resembled n
river running pell nell to reach an
outlet perhaps n mile away"
Water Hub-Iiigh.
II was during this rain that tho
wa'orwcrks mon were scheduled to
take a trip across the Mississippi on
e ferry boat TO take their trains
home. The trip from hotel to ferry
station was made in a taxicab.
81 thought we would be washed
awav and drowned before we
reached the station" Younkman
n.
street, water came up over the hubs
OF the car. II we tried to pake any
speed, the car threw water ten feet
nigh.
AFTER reachinS the station It was
raining So heavy and the water on
the rlatform SO deep that the driver
ran his car right against the station
door Even at that we were soaked.
Then cane tho most trying or
deal Of the whole trip. Our train
was loaded in three sections onto
I the ferry. ore of the largest boats
4 OF its kind In the world. to cross the
rlv'r which seems about three miles
4 wide at this point. The trip across
risen 90 feet in three hours, and
It was rough as n lake during a
storm. The boat rocked. and the
coaches we were in rocked until we
thought we we're going TO be dumped
into the river.
Nine Hours on River.
I'VE finally got across, hut when
.-, reached the other side the river
was SO rough that we couldn MAKE
landing for fear of destroying the
pier After several unsucesstul az,
temps TO land. the boat was turned
around and started back 10 INC
New orleans Slde' iH.i' W
up at the same place from which
we started, after nine long. nerve
racking hours on the turbulent MIS-
hssppi 1t was Z o'clock the next
mornng before We could make the
trip Accessfuily."
Younkman returned convinced
that weather conditions in Tulsa
suit him exactly and that New Or
leans provides entirely too much ex-
element for man OF his quiet tenn
perament. The waterworks conven-
y ton was a tremendous success he
said