Evening star., 1922-09-02
4-YEAR RECORD
BROKEN BY 5,16
D. c. DOWNPOUR
Homes and Sewers Flooded
and Many Car Lines
Tied Up.
RESIDENTS MAROONED
WHEN FLOOD BURSTS
Deluge Centers Over City and
Beats Down From Mid
night to 8 AM.

night to s Am.
Washington was deluged this morn
ing by the heaviest rainstorm record
ed by the local weather bureau since
1879. Homes were inundated, street
car traffic halted, sewers flooded and
electric service between this city and
virginia points paralyzed for hours
by the SIG inches of rain that poured
from the skies between l o'clock and
o'clock.
By strange freak Of the elements,
the downpour was confined to what
might be considered the metropolitan
area of the District, with 4 few ex-
ceptions. Maryland, Virginia and
Pennsylvania reported local electric
storms. but the rainfall was COM
paratively light, Baltimore register
ing only a half inch for the eight
hours.
Impairment of Car Lines.
The greatest amount of damage
and inconvenience was caused by a
semi paralysis of the city's street car
system when the cable conduits were
flooded and several of the busiest
lines were halted for hours. Other
cars crawled along at snail-like pace
whlle crowds of citizens en- route to
work Sweltered in ill-ventilated cars
The rain started with a rush and
did not let up until after 5 o'clock
mn in Il
IN violence hourly until o'clock
when the peak was reached and the
doWnpour, slowly but surely, began
TO abate. AS a result city streets be-
came veritable mill races as the
waters backed up from the over
taxed sewers and in some places ran
INTO the cellars of homes.
Families Are Marooned.
A score or more of families were
marooned in their homes today when
the waters from this mornings rain
swept down on their community,
| known as Taylors subdivision, about
half a mile this side of the District
line, on Atlantic street, not far from,
the end of the Congress Heights car
line.
Chickens were drowned, fences
broken down and the street in front
OF the bungalows submerged when
the flood engulfed the town early this
morning.
At late hour this afternoon the
waters had receded from Atlantic
street, but still reached the top of
the fences, and in some cases the
front doorsteps of a dozen or more
of the houses. Throngs of curious
spectators paraded down the main
thoronghfare of the village and
viewed the unusual spectacle
The families did not suffer from
lack of water for food as there were
numerous men and children who VOL
unteered to wade through the waist
deep stream to obtain buckets of
water from hydrant and obtain food
at the neighborhood store.
bridge spanning Oson Run was
for while endangered by the swift
current which swelled almost to the
arches of the wooden structure.
There are about ten houses facing
Atlantic street which suffered from
the flood. Double that number on
Yuma street were in the Same predic-
! ament. Most of the householders ap-
peared to be enjoying the situation
in spite of its serious aspect.
Considerable amusement was caused
when Harry Hawes went up to his At
| lantic street residence, struggled
through chest-deep water to his
chicken house to rescue the fowls
lNeTeln. ne IOunO tndl I'VE out Oh
twelve still were alive. In front of
the house l20 Atlantic street a large
touring car is stalled.
Residents of the community ex-
planned that the subdivision has no
sewer system. depending on net
work of bitches for drainage. A few
of the houses have Easements and for
that reason little damage was done
to the household goods which might
have been stored therein. This is the
asz1I y,
perienced. the first occurring about
two years ago.
Street car service on the Washing
| ton-Virginia line was completely
paralyzed as a result of two wash
outs. one at Four Mile run and the
| other at Falls Church. At IL o'clock
officials of the company announced
they Were running cars as far as the
washouts on both sides and that
busses were employed by the company
declaring the tracks had been made
unsafe for heavy traffic. Crews were
put to work Immediately and the
breaks were expected to be mended
by late this afternoon.
Hundreds of commuters from Vir-
ginia reached their offices hours late.
or not at all. In the city proper how
ever, conditions were little better.
Few government workers got to their
offices on time. The F and G street
Electric Company stoppd running at
the height of the rush hour, 7:45 O'Clock.
when the water backed up to the
| electric rail in the conduit. Service
was resumed under slow headway in
about twelve minutes.
Mud Washed on Lines.
Freshets covered parts of the Chevy
Chase line with mud and caused
complete tie-up for a while. Cars
were run cautiously after crews had
cleared away much of the debris. TIE
| Capital Traction Company also hs
! difficulty on its 14th street line. cars re-
I, quiring forty-five minutes to make runs
! that ordinarily could have been accom-
T; plished in twenty minutes.
4 Actual damage resulting from the
storm, however, was comparatively
! small, when the unusually violent
i nature of the downpour is considered.
| A wall in the rear OF the real estate
! office of c. Irving Wood, 1928 Wiscon-
sin avenue, caved in, two automobile
| were stalled on Branch road near
| Rock Creek crossing when that
stream overran it's banks and vehicu-
lar traffic over Morris road beyond
| Nichols avenue was stopped when
| part Of the thoroughfare was washed
away.
The base ball diamonds and tennis
courts near Tidal Basin bathing
beach were made more suitable for
swimming than any other sport and
the reflection pool in front of Lincoln
Memorial was filled. Little or no
|