The New York herald., 1922-07-19
.SUbWAYS TIED UP
FOR THREE HOURS
BY STORM FLOOD
Thousands in Seventh Ave
nue. Line Jam-Water
Rises Twenty Inches.
CROWDS NEAR PANIC
Confusion Reigns in Sta
tions From Times Square
to Chambers Street.
SURFACE LINES HELD UP
lightning Adds to Damage in
City and Jersey-Heat
Claims Victims.
SURFACE LINES HELD UP

New York's third big rainstorm in
as many weeks was accompanied last
night by subway tieup. heat pros
trations. lightning accidents and prop
erty damage of thousands Of dollars
In the city and suburbs. No deaths or
serious injuries were recorded last
night, but the thunderstorm. which
started about 6 o'clock, flooded cellars,
subway tracks and did other damage
throughout the city which caused tie
ups and confusion.
Supplemented by the unusual amount
Of water the firemen poured into the
building OF the Manufacturers Tran
sit Company at 245 West Twelfth
street during yesterdays fire, the tor
rents Of water which fell during the
storm inundated the tracks between
Houston and Fourteenth street on the
Seventh avenue subway and from 7:45
o'clock until 1850 the service between
Chambers street and Forty-second
street was suspended, save for local
train which was run as a shuttle be-
tween Fourteenth street and Times
square
Trains from Brooklyn and South
Ferry were unable to go further north
than Chambers street, where they were
switched back after discharging their
passengers.
Crowds Wear Panic.
When the tieup started there was
confusion at stations between Times
Square and Chambers street. At Four
teenth street panic was averted by the
police. The rain had driven scores Of
persons into the subway entrances and
to these were added the crowds surging
from below. Word was sent to Robert
Ridgeway,' chief engineer Of the Inter-
borough, and to Gen. Lincoln Andrews
chief executive officer or the Transit
Commission. and they hurried to the
scene of the trouble from the Engineer
ing Club. According to the report at
the Office of the Transit Commission the
flood near Houston street put the signal
system out of working order and the
dispatchers were therefore unable to
supervise properly the running Of the
trains.
When the crowds poured from the
Fourteenth street entrances there was
a rush for surface and elevated lines.
Passengers in the four express trains
and four locals. forty-eight cars in
all. which were caught In the tube be-
tween Fourteenth street and Houston.
had to walk along the two foot emer-
gency path to the nearest stations.
At the height OF the water the pumps
measured the flood at twenty inches
and one Of the pumps broke as the
water kept rising. After several hours
work the water was reduced to six
inches. Sewers backwashed in several
places and the water In the street
overfiowed the curbings and poured
through the street ventilators into the
subway, making the task OF the Inter-
borough working squads more difficult.
Thermometer mt SO.
AS In the cases Of the two previous
heavy storms this month, the downpour
of yesterday and last night was pre-
ceded by great heat. According to the
report from the Weather Bureau the hu-
lnidty reached 100 about o'clock and
the temperature rose to 88 during the
afternoon. The days rainfall up to 8
o'clock last night was 2.45 inches. bring
6.1O inches. The entire month OF June.
the wettest June in history, recorded
1856 inches Of rainfall.
Lightning struck one of the tall col
unns on the roof Of Public School No. .,
at 46s West End avenue and Eighty
second street. and tossed nearly ton Of
bricks and tiles to the street. A large
hole was torn through the roof of the
building. which also houses a branch OF
the Julia Richman High School. but no
Are was started by the bolt.
In staten Island the loss was esti-
mated at nearly 100000. Sewers over
flowed, cellars we're flooded, trees torn
down. automobiles overturned and the
trolley car service between Dongan Hills.
Grant City. West Brighton. -Four Corners
and other points was put out of COM
mission.
In Brooklyn the Gowanus Canal over