Evening star., 1925-09-06
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

When fifty years ago Washington
was visited by an unusually heavy rain
TI storm, the sewer system
q Local of the Capital proved in
Deluge. adequate for CARRYING off
the water In The Star
OF August 80, 1875, is an account of
such happening, which cost large
amount of money and damages to
property and goods:
Yesterday one of the heaviest storms
which has ever visited this section ofthe
country prevailed here and from about
seven and half O'Clock in the morn
ing until four and half o'clock in the
afternoon the rain poured down, with
but brief intervals, in torrents. the
total amount falling being about 2.S1
inches. This had the effect at first of
thoroughly washing and cleansing the
alleys and streets It was not long
however, before it became evident that
the sewers would not suffice TO carry
| of the amount of rain falling, and BY
IL O'Clock am. the water from the
nigh grounds made its way through
the openings of the sewers, and soon
the streets in many portions of the
| city were flooded
| From Seventh street to the Capitol
grounds, and from Pennsylvania ave
nue. to Maine avenue the most damage
chants having the goods in their eel
lars damaged. Even the lower floors.
| In some instances, were submerged
The open space between Four and a
half and Sixth streets and Maine and
Missouri avenues, the old propagat-
| ing gardens, was covered with water
this morning, and B and Sixth streets
for time appeared to the residents as
| II the old canal ran along that point /,
hA toll Two 70 "A
depot was almost inaccessible to pedes-
| TRANS.
| I'm Purdys court, between Penn
| sylvania avenue and B and First and
| Second streets northwest. the lower
stories of the houses were completely
| submerged, and the occupants, those
Icaught at home, were compelled to put
| their bedchambers to the uses of par
lor, dining room and kitchen. The
neighborhood of o and P and North
| Capitol streets were submerged. and
| many persons were forced TO go up
stairs to keep out of the wet. On
Massachusetts avenue between Fourth
| and Fifth streets, where the present
grade is considerably above the old,
| the lower floors and cellars were sub
merged. In the bottom land on North
Capitol street between o and P there
| was q lake, from whence only the
oCSOlld 6lOLICS vi IOuSSS WSES NlSlDlG.
| At the corner of l. and Seventeenth
streets the water boiled up through
| the manholes, and there was a lake,
covering two or three squares.
THE rain was not confined to the
| immediate city, but here it appeared
| to be the heaviest. About 3 o'clock
this morning there was a very heavy
thunderstorm about 10 miles north of
the city, and the streams in that sec
| tion rose over the banks, and in some
cases damage was done by the sweep
| ing away of hay stacked in the
meadows.
Good judges believe that the rains
of yesterday clearly demonstrated that
the B street sewer has not the capaor
ity to carry off the water on such ex-
traordinarY occasions. This is more
| clearly demonstrated from the fact
that there was no tide obstruction to
| interfere with the discharge of water
yesterday. The water lifted the iron
caps from the manholes the full
| length of the sewer, and water spout
ed up through them two or three feet
high for two hours at least"
| Floods on Pennsylvania avenue have
occurred on several occasions, and
were not prevented, indeed, until the
removal of the old Long Bridge.