Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-07-30
RAIN AND LIGHTNING
CAUSE MUCH DAMAGE
IN AND NEAR CITY
Continued from paro /.


stroyed by fire. caused by spontaneous
combustion, last Sunday.
barn Struck at stanton.
One other instance of barn being
struck occurred at stanton. but the only
damage that resulted was dent In
the roof and shattering of come 4
the shingles. The barn is on the farm
of William satterthwaite.
Throughout all sections the storm
was described as being the most severe.
in many years At Taileyville II was
reported that large hail stones fell for
a considerable portion of it's duration.
As result OF damage TO the lines
of Wilmington and Philadelphia Trac-
lion Company electric lights In the ctty
were out OF commission for quite n
while.
Transformer Burned Out.
The burning of transformer at
Forst Park. on the Lincoln Highway.
caused cessation of lighting facilities
at Eismere. Newark, West Grove.
Elkton. Md. and other points. which
continued for several hours. In most
cases the service was restored at night
fall.
Telephone communication for n ..mn
was interrupted in number of sec
tions, but communication was quickly
restored. Newark. Hockessin. Middle
town. and Laurel, were some of the
towns that suffered most I'm this re-
spect. Telephone service had INST
heen restored to Newark Yesterday
after IL had been put out of commits
sion by the storm of Thursday night
The total rainfall during the storm
In twenty-five minutes was l.35 incnes
which Is at the rate OF nearly AZ inch
es an hour which is said to be an un-
usual precipitation in this section of
the country.
streets in some sections OF the city
r. sombled small creeks for the drive
ways were under several inches or
water which spread from building line
to building line. Complaints were
made TO the Street and Sewer Depart
ment about the flooding OF the sewersI
but IA. l.. Maier. city engineer. ex-
planned that the sewers were not de-
signed to carry off as much water as
fell during the storm. He explained
that there is a law requiring the resi-
dents To have back traps i'm thei,
in many cellars being flooded.
One OF the incidents of the storm was
the rush of water down the hills on
sixth and Eight streets TO a point be-
tween Madison and Monroe streets,
where the lowest level lis reached. ON
Eighth and Sixth streets between Mad
ison and Monroe streets the water
overflowcd the sewers and spread up
over the sidewalks and into the build
ings on either side. Both streets were
miniature lakes for n brief period and
the flood did much damage to the adj
jacent properties when 1t got int the
cellars of the houses. On Eighth ttreet
quantities OF mud were carried down
by the water from the new street work
in progress west of Van Buren, street
This helped clog up the sewer inlets
and was largely responsible for the
of the street.
Shipley Run sewer rose four feet and |
,verfiowed its banks. At Pennsylvania |
avenue and Union street the roadway |
Was under three feet of water. a /
sewer burst at Front and Adams |
streets, flooding the street for block |
an either side. Another street flood |
,cured at Twentieth and Market |
'tretes. Just how much damage was /
'aused by the flooding of cellars could /
Tot be estimated.
The electrical display was one of /
he worst residents of this city have
'ver witnessed. The flashes of blind
ng light were almost incessant and
,ach was followed by terrific thunder !.
'rashes- Serious interruptions were
'aused by the burning of switches on
ines of the Wilmington and Phila-
Ielphia Traction Company, and trans
ormers. Four commercial circuits
we're burned out but service was
quickly restored after the storm. A
ew lines were torn down by the storm
'ut they were quickly repaired.
Trolley service was not interrupted
nd the telephone service throughout
he city was maintained. The traction
ompany officials claim.the storm was
he worst they have seen for sometime
he company's loss along its various
mes is not thought TO have been very
reat.
During the worst of the storm the
,wering clouds made the city streets
lmost as dark as night. In some OF ,
he office buildings. especially the du
ont building. Office lights had To be
rought into play.
Lightning struck the wires on a pole
Fifth and French streets and started I
slight fire. The Delaware Fire Com
any extinguished the blaze.
Frightened by the storm a horse at {
,ched to huckster's wagon ran away
ON Thirteenth and West streets. )
raffic Officer Arthur l.. Gross station
at Delaware avenue andt Wash-
lgton street jumped into a passing
ntomobile and gave chase and caught
he horse at Second and West streets. i
he horse is owned by Cornelius Mol !
N of 1fo French street and had been {
ired by Edward Miller. Il
Several police reporting boxes We're G
ut out of commission by the light /
Ing. IL required considerable work 5
} restore the service but this was
soon after the storm had
oated.
Lightning entered DIR. Bantons home
it did not injure anyone or do any
image. A portion of the fence about :
he Wilmington & Brandywine ceme-
ry was shattered by the lightning.
Immediately following the rain +
'ere was drop of IA degrees in the :
mperature, bringing welcome relief I
ON the intense heat of the day.
Rain Was Welcome In Sussex.
An unusual heavy rainfall visited
ussex county during the afternoon.
o serious damage was caused. The !
lin there, as in many other sections.