Imperial Valley press., 1921-08-22
$4,000 COST
Of STORM
To WATER
MUTUAL
Valley Is Swept by Heaviest
kainstorm in Many Years.
High Line Canal Washed
Out.

One OF the heaviest rains ever ey-
perlenced in Imperial Valley yester-
day afternoon and last night caused
thousands of dollars in damage in var
lous ways and thoroughly drenched
the entire area from the mountains
on the west to the Colorado river and
from the Coachella Valley to the Co.
copah mountains in Lower California.
The greatest damage was caused
IN the north end of the valley where
torrent of water from a cloudburst
IN the edge of the Chocolate noun
tains swept across the desert, washing
out the highline canal of Imperial
Water Company No. 8, in two places
southeast of INLAND and carrying a.
way hundreds of domestic fowls and
hogs. The damage to crops was very
slight in most instances.
The damage to the high line canal
and the laterals, with the loss of hogs
and poultry is estimated at approi-
imately $4,000 and may exceed that
sum when the engineers estimates Of
costs for repairs are made.
The storm started with high wind
from the northeast early in the after
noon, but the wind was soon followed
by heavy down pour of rain The
rainstorm struck Calipatria at about
3 O'Clock and advanced rapidly south
ward, reaching Calexico at 5. For
about an hour the entire Valley was
thoroughly drenched by a very heavy
down pour but later the precipitation
was lighter, continuing for about
four hours The total precipitation for
the storm averaged about 2 inches all
over the valley, but during the first
hour more than one and one-half in
ches fell in most places.
BraWley this morning reported
precipitation of II inches during the
first hour and total of 81 for the
storm. At the government experime-
tai station at Meloland the total rain
fall was 1.61 inches and at Calexico
the precipitation the first hour was
1.6 inches with total of 2.04 for the
storm. All these figures are believed
to be greater than any of those re-
corded in the past
The precipitation yesterday amount
ed to more than two thirds of that of
the entire year of 1919 and was almost
half as much as that of last year
when All inches of rain fell. The pre-
clpltation since January /, exclusive
of that of yesterday, according to the
Imperial Irrigation District rain guage
was % inches, making total for the
year of 2.7S inches.
Vacationists and others returning
this morning from San Diego report
that the flood water covered the pave
ment in the vicinity of Coyote Wells
with large quantity of sand and that
IN another place the pavement was
undermined by the water, causing it to
sag several inches for a shorS distance
Many telephone and electric light
poles We're blown nearly down and
trees by the dozen We're destroyed by
the wind. Cellars were flooded In Ell
Centre, CaleXico and the streets were
filled with water from curb to curb
for several hours after the heaviest
precipitation, the sewers being far to
small to carry off the large volume of
water.
The Southern Pacific company re-
ported this morning that the only da-
mage to its tracks was to sidings and
spur tracks which We're undermined
and washed out in few instances,
but the road supervisors of the county
have another story to tell. The dirt
roads We're flooded and automobile
traffic was impossible during the
night and even late today many of
them We're too muddy to permit of the
passage of anything but horse drawn
vehicles.
While the rain was advancing rap
idly southward over the valley another
storm started in the Cocopah noun
tains in Lower California and began
moving northward, the two storms
meeting several miles below the inter-
national boundary, and thoroughly
drenched the surrounding country,