Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1922-07-14

NATIONAL CAPITAL
VIRTUALLY FLOODED

Sixteen hours of almost steady rain
was the record for Annapolis during
the last storm. which in spite of to-
days fair weather forecast seems To
be uncertain about letting up.
AS has been the case in many of
the storms this summer. Annapolis
escaped the full brunt of It's force. for
while the sun was still shining yes
terday afternoon, a heavy rain, ac-
companied by hail. fell in the neigh
borhood of the head OF South river.
and last night the center OF the cleo
trio disturbance was we'll out on An
napolis Neck.
Telephone Service Crippled
Not many local telephone lines
were put out OF order last night, but
the trunk service between Annapolis
and Baltimore, and Washington, was
| completely burned out. and there was
no connection with Washington for
over twelve hours. There were also
other resultant Interruptions and i'm
paired service.
Three very sharp flashes OF light
ming, with instantaneous thunder
claps. around 8 o'clock made many
inhabitants think that lightning had
struck somewhere in town, but no
damage has been reported.
Was Series OF Disturbances
There was really a series OF storms
from o'clock until late in the night.
They seemingly centered between the
southern end of the county and
Washington. County roads in many
| sections were almost completely
awash with the result that today
there are many bad ruts, causing au-
tomobilists to travel with greater
caution than ordinarily would be the
case. Crops were beaten down, and
lSrm lands generally flooded, al
though it is not thought any seri-
Gus damages were inflicted along this
| line.
Residents of the city heard the
rumblings of thunder until late I'm the
night. Between and IL o'clock there
were several heavy showers OF rain
and after that hour the rain set in
steadily for the balance of the night.
The fact that the storms OF the after
noon gathered slowly enabled water
men and pleasure parties out on the
bay and rivers to seek refuge. and no
damages from that source have been
reported.
Brought Relief From Heat
The storm was not without an ex-
tremely welcome result TO suffering
humanity There followed a sharp
drop in temperature from the cooling
breozes that came in its wake. and
Annapolitans who had suffered from
the loss of much sleep because OF the
torrid heat of the two previous
nights, turned in" early last night
and made the most of slumbering un-
der pleasant conditions.
! Washington felt the full force of the
storm. Following the record heat
spell of this season, the capital was
visited late in the afternoon with the
heaviest rainfall in the briefest time
, of which the Weather Bureau has rec
[ ord. Three and twenty-nine hun
dredths inches had fallen before 8
r o'clock, $40 inches of that amount
falling between 4.40 and 6 p. m.
: Accompanying the downpour was
! an electrical disturbance of unusual
\ severity that caused many small fires
and called out practically every fire
\ company in that city. Most OF the
K fires we're trees and electric light
| poles struck by lightning or short
e circuited by the water. One residence
e that of DR.. c. A. Baker, was STRUCK
by lightning. The fire department
a quickly extinguished the blaze tha
Il resulted, the damage being but 5000
K There were other items of damage.
9 Comparison of Weather Bureau RET
a ords for July in the District Of Co
= lumbia show one other storm to hav
approached this one in the amount 9
water precipitated in a brief tim,
On July 5. 1905, 2.78 inches fell
one hours time and 1888 inches
ID two hours.