The New York herald., 1922-06-19
100000 STORM
| HITS PORT JERVIS
Opening of Hydrants Prevents
Bursting Of Big Dams
Adjoining Town.
PINCHOT TOws A MOTOR
Rescues Car He Found Caught
i'm Wreckage-Makes Detour
to His Home.

Special Dispatch to THE New York HERALD
PORT JERvIs, June 1s.--A ehasn
stretching 3c0 feet in width and sixty
feet in depth across Kingston avenue,
one of the principal streets of this town,
scores OF houses coated inside and out
with silt. cellars filed with water and
a lake of several acres surrounding
homes in q lower section are the rec
ords Port Jervls bore tonight of the
food which swept the city early to-day.
following the severest cloudburst this
section has known In twenty years.
Damage Is estimated at about 81. 900, 900.
For time early to-day it appeared
that one or more of the three big reser-
voir dams above the town would break.
causing a repetition OF the Johnstown
food disaster. This was avoided by
making an opening in one of the dams
and by opening all Of the fire hydrants
and faucets In the city. thus letting the
water escape gradually. At times the
water stood twenty feet deep In sections
of the town.
Police and fire Departments. officials
declared it was miraculous that no
czeualties or serious injuries resulted
from the food. Families in the danger
zone were notified about midnight that
the dam was to be openec and they
had time to flee. The Slight elevation
OF the dam kept the water from rushing
over the city.
Houses Are Totterin9.
Two houses. belonging to George Howe
and Fred Sherman. stood short dis
tance on each side of the culvert. Both
of these houses tonight were tottering
on the edge of the brink and were de-
clared unsafe for occupancy
Five hundred feet below Kingston
avenue the flood struck another small
cuivert under the tracks of the Ontario
and Western Railroad. The culvert and
the elevated track bed were washed
away. leaving the rails and crossties
hanging in the air,
The storm broke shortly after dusk
last night and for twenty-four hours
held the town in its grip. About five
and half inches of rainfall was re-
corded. The waters i'm the reservoirs
above the city and of the Delaware and
Neversink rivers, which come to a
junction at Port Jervis. began rising
about $50 o'clock
Soon afterward William L. Cudder-
sink, president Of the Port Jervis Water
Company. which owns the lower reser-
voir supplying this city. saw the dan
ger and called for help from the police
and volunteers to warn families to flee
to higher ground.
At the height of the storm the lower
reservoir overflowed and a mad, swirl
ing stream fifteen feet in depth poured
down the mountainside to Kingston
avenue. This stream continued to swell,
and in desperate effort to save the
town from being swept away party
of citizens with policemen fought their
way in rowboats to the reservoir and
made an opening in the sluiceways to-
relieve the pressure on the dam.
Another Torrent DescendS.
Another torrent rushed down the hill
side on the other side of the town and
inundated the business Section of which
Pike street is the center. The lower
floors of the buildings and stores were
swept and much damage was done to
merchandise.
The Erie Railroad yards in this Sec
ton were covered with ten feet OF
water and train service was suspended
until the flood receded. The lower
floor of the Y. NJ C. a. was turned
into swimming pool, and seven feet
of water filled the cellar of the Port
Jervis Union, newspaper. running six
months supply of print paper.
The water turned Pike street into a
small river and swept down to Ball
street In the lower section of the town.
Here the water formed into lake cover
ing several acres and three or four feet
deep. A number of houses tonight were
surrounded by the water.
Many home on the rivers edges were
abandoned when the streams began to
overflow. The rivers are still far out of
their beds. but the waters are receding.
Many of the families In Kingston ave-
nue. and other nearby streets returned
to their homes late to-day when the
stream from the reservoir ceased to flow.
They found the sides and walls of the
houses thiclIy coated with mud and
silt. and the Health Department began
laying plans tonight to supervise the
cleaning of the houses to prevent sick
ness.
Trains on the Ontario and the Middle
town and Unionville railroads were held
up at various points because of the wash
outs. Section gangs were kept at work
all day repairing the breaks and clear
ing the rights of way. In some places
trains are running through two feet of
water.
Pinchot I'm storm.
Clifford Pinchot. Republican nominee
for Governor of Pennsylvania, was re-
turning from Port Jervis to his home in
Milford. Pa. when the storm broke.