Daily Kennebec journal., 1922-07-19

residence Of John H. DeOrsay, No.
School street and was split in such
way that the greater part of it came
down bringing with it a tangle of
wires. At the northern end of the
city many trees were struck by
lightning and side flashes of cleo
trical fluid entered houses and
alarmed the occupants.
Wires are Damaged
From 100 to o'clock 16 strokes
were sounded on the fire alarm in res
sponse to flashes of lightning. 1t is
not known how serious The damage
has been to the fire alarm system, but
City Engineer Eugene W. Crawford
was out in the storm doing his best
to bring order out of chaos The To-
cal telephone exchange followed Or
derS under such circumstances, ans
wering no calls during the worst of
the shower. The Postal and West
ern Union Telegraph Co. suffered Sc
verely from the storm and a large
amount of static kept the office of the
telegraph companies sizzling mer
rily throughout the entire pyro-
technic exhibition.
Bolts in Several Places
The southern end of the city was
not immune and lightning struck in
many places. At 125 Kennebec street
occupied by George Barney, lightning
struck the chimney and the force of
the expanding air drove the thimbles
out of the receivers and filled the
house with black sooty smoke, so that
at one time it was throught that the
house was on fire. AS soon as the
family could recover themselves, with
the help of ncighbors the thimbles
were put back in the receivers again.
though one was not found until it was
discovered under bed on the oppo-
site side Of the room from the CHM
ney.
Big Water Damage
The chief damage appeared to be by
water, all over the city huge places
were washed out in streets, courts,
and back yards. In Haveland court,
at the rear of the American Clothing
Co. and other stores in the vicinity
of Silver street, a small lake was
formed and the water did not run off
as quickly as in other localities.
There was a washout on Grove street
near the end of the trolley line, and
the track was caved in four feet pre-
venting the cars going to the end of
the line on Silver street.
Washout in Winslow
Below Winslow a huge washout
caused the cancellation Of all trains
between Waterville and Augusta, and
train 102 was sent around via Lewis
ton. Two members of the public util-
tiles commission found themselves
temporarily stranded in Waterville on
account of the storm. Chairman
Guerney and Mr.. Doloff were the
ones marooned in town until they
could secure automobile transporta-
ton to the Capitol City. They had
an opportunity of observing the dam
age to the tracks Of the Ardroscoggin
and Kennebec trolley line at Wins
low. At this point an ordinary wood
en- conduit had swelled to such pro-
portions that raging stream had torn
away gully II feet across over which
the tracks were suspended hanging
only by the rails.
Houses Undermined
A house occupied by Leslie York at
this point just bo--ond. the. second
bridge in Winslow where the trolley
line turns to the eastward before
climbing the hill toward Vassalboro,
was almost completely undermined.
The next house is occupied by Mrs.
Harry Christie and her son and
daughteri law, Mr.. and Mrs.
Thomas Peters. Mr.. Peters as
the water began to rise rapid
ly around his house, he took
his wife and baby in his arms and
started across to the house of Mrs.
Maurice Emery on the opposite side
of the road, which was located on
slightly higher ground. When he re-
turned to get his mother the water
was up to his waist. All were car
ried to safety.
A large two and one-half story
house opposite the Christie house
was nearly one fourth undermined
and had the gully not been torn
out it is probable that the house
would have been tipped over into
the stream and carried down toward
the Sebasticook.
Sewers Burst
A curious Illustration of the tre-
mendous power exerted by water un-
der hydraulic pressure was shown by
the main sewer at this point, which
had literally burst under the pres
sure of the long column of water ur
the hill. A gully was gorged out by
the side of the road at this point.
The new State road just at the end
of the bridge, appears to have been
constructed in such a way that it
did not suffer serious damage, at
least not at the Winslow end,
River of Water
Officials of the New ENGLAND
nita stewart