Evening star., 1932-03-07
STORM HERE KILLS
/ FINE, INJURIES 100
Eastern High School Party
of II Missing in Bus
Is Found Safe.
Continued From First Pagel

Immediately after breakfast" Sunday
morning
Hundreds of motorists, who had left
the city Saturday on week end trips
lured by the warm Spring weather, were
trappedSby the blizzard on the roads to
Washington yesterday and many sui
fered severely from exposure. Eighty
motorists. rescued from stranded cars
south of Alexandria alone, underwent
medical treatment for exposure at Alex
andria.
The blizzard was followed by plung-
ing thermometer. which reached II de-
grees at o'clock this morning. after
179 inches of rain and snow had fal-
len. The cold weather will continue to-
day and tonight the Weather Bureau
anticipates a minimum temperature OF
approximately Is degrees.
BY heroic efforts the local street rail-
way systems were able to keep their
city lines open and service went for
ward on nearly normal schedules during
the night and today. except where power
plows were pulled" by being jammed
in slots contracted by the cold or filled
with ice
Motorists, however. did not fare SO
we'll, and the police listed more than
100 minor collisions. resulting from
sl.!dding on ICY pa"ementS or due to
and windows. The American Automo-
bile Association was handling emer-
gency calls from stOrmbOund motorists
at rate of approximately 100 an hour
from the time the blizzard struck yes
terday morning throughout the night
and into this morning.
The storm began with torrential rains
yesterday morning, turning to snow
soon after II o'clock. Wind velocities
rose steadily unit! a maximum Of 81
miles per hour was recorded at the
Weather Bureau at l so pm, yesterday.
Ground VelCcitieS continued steadily at
80 to 35 miles per hour, with occasional
higher gusts throughout the night and
up to noon today.
Barometric Pressure Falls.
At higher levels the winds were blow
ing at terrific velocities due to the
record low barometric pressure. At 8
O'Clock this morning the wind velocity
at an altitude of 5000 feet was l24
miles per hour. according TO the United
States Always Weather Station at
Washington-Hoove Airport.
The barometric pressure during the
height of the storm fell to 1855. the
lowest ever recorded at the Weather
Bureau, and this pressure continued to
fall as the storm moved off to the
northeast until this morning. with the
storm centering off Nantucket, the
pressure was down to 28.4.
The forecast of the Weather Bureau
at 10 am. is for fair and continued
cold weather tonight and Tuesday, with
minimum temperature of Is degrees
tonight and with diminishing north
west winds The American Automo-
bile Association issued warning to all
motorists to protect their cars against
the extreme cold tonight.
As far as amount OF snowfall goes,
yesterdays storm failed by far to set
a new record for March. The famous
Taft inaugural blizzard" of March 4,
1909, measured 10 inches.
Heavy Electric Storm.
One of the unusual features of the
blizzard was the heavy electrical dis
tIlrbanceS which accompanied it. Roll
ing thunder and flashes OF lightning
occurred in the midst of the heaviest
snowfall. The storm whipped the en-
tire Atlantic seaboard, damaging ship
ping, disrupting communications and
laying the entire countryside under its
heaviest snow blanket of the year
Storm signals were flying from Sa-
vannah to Maine.
The gales wrecked more than 1000
telephone and power poles. and took
down more than 200 trees in and
around Washington including one in
the White House grounds A 40-foot
nagpole on the Treasury was sent hur-
ting into Fifteenth street, luckily
striking no one in its fall
Maryland and Virginia were States
OF Isolated towns, many of them in
darkness and without communication
with the outside world as power lines
went down under weight of ice and
pressure of wind Roads in all direc-
tions were closed by ice and fallen
trees and poles. only a few of the
main highways being kept open at all,
and parts of even these being blocked
at intervals. All roads out of Fred
er1ck, Nd. were impossible.
Scores of District and railroad snow
ploWS and SweeperS went into action
soon after the snowfall began and con-
tinued in operation throughout the
night. They were augmented by hun
dreds of laborers, a force of $50 Dis
trict workmen being set to work in the
downtown section, in addition to several
hundred employed by the street rail-
ways TO keep switches and platforms
cleared
Most of the storm damage was due to
wet snow freezing to trees, poles and
lines. The added weight and increased
area exposed to the high winds resulted
In breakage.
Killed by Falling Tree.
It was this feature Of the storm
which killed Kligman and Mrs. Reid.
The Kligman boy, oldest Of six chill
dren, was returning home when he was
killed
AS he was about to cross the inter-
section tree about two feet in diam
eter snapped near its base and fell
0iagonally across the street A large
upper limb broke off near the trunk
and struck the bows head.
Albert was knocked fiat, the limb pin
nlng him TO the street The rescue
SQUAD took him to Emergency Hospital,
where he was pronounced dead from a
fractured skull and broken neck
Funeral services will be held tomor-
row in Bernard Danzansky's funeral
parlor, 350l Fourteenth street.
Woman EIectrocuted
Mrs. Reid, wife of Horatio Reid,
dairyman, was talking on the telephone
at about 10 o'clock last night when a
tree fell across the telephone and power
lines near her home. The telephone
line crossed a power line and she was
instantly electrocuted. 1t became neces-
sary TO cut away the tree before a doc
tor could be summoned.
The worst storm sufferers were
motorists who were stranded on the
highways outside the city. There were
hundreds of cars stalled by ice and
snow or fallen trees and poles, and every
available rescue vehicle in the Capital
and nearby communities was pressed
into service 10 assist them
All roads out of Frederick, Md, were
closed. and the city's unemployment
problem ceased to exist when every
available man was sent out to clear
the roads and assist in repairing
broken poles and power lines
The American Automobile Associa-
ton reported that the emergency Was