Smyrna times., 1934-08-09
STORM HAVOC
DONE TO ROADS
Buses Summoned to Aid p. K.
r. Service Between Will
mingtOn and Clayton
$50 FEET OF TRACK OUT

Hundreds of men labored fever
ishly Friday in all parts of the
State but especially in the area
around Middletown to repair the
damage done by the heavy rain
storms, cloud-bursts and wash
outs of Thursday night and early
Friday morning. At the end of a
hard days work much of the dam
age had been repaired although
trains were still held up on the
Delmarva Division of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad at Townsend.
Trains were unable to get through
until late Saturday night and at
least two highways, the State road
from Middletown to the dupont
highway and the county road past
Noxentown Lake were closed to
traffic with little chance of their
being reopened for several months.
Work crews of the Pennsylvania
Railroad were still laboring late
Thursday night in an effort to re-
pair the washout which occurred
about three quarters of a mile
north of Townsend where $50 feet
of track and a culvert of 30-foot
arch was washed away. The wash
out was in places as deep as 40
feet Pile drivers were sent to the
scene from Baltimore and Philadel-
phia and work on the construction
of piles to bridge the gap and the
laying of trestle work was gotten
under way as soon as possible.
Bail Brought Through
The first batch of mail to arrive
in Wilmington from downstate
since 8 o'clock Thursday night ar
rived at o'clock Friday night.
While regular train service on the
railroad from Clayton to Cape
Charles operated as usual the mail
was transferred to railroad motor
trucks and taken to Wilmington.
Although the mails under this
method were running as much as
six hours behind time Friday, they
were on schedule Saturday. Pas
sengers were taken by bus from
Wilmington to Clayton where they
boarded the trains. Only mail and
passengers were taken from Will
mington to Clayton. Below Clay
ton everything was working
smoothly and that even freight
was moving. Some difficulty was
experienced Friday with a number
of the auxiliary lines but by Friday
night they had been Strengthened
out Train service on the Ches-
tertown and Centreville lines were
held up at Massey's Junction thru
out Friday but started moving
again Saturday.
Number Of Bridges Washed Away
On the road from Middletown to
Townsend three bridges were
washed out entirely and in one
place more than 300 feet of the
roadway itself was washed away.
The maintenance crew of the State
Highway Department spent all Of
Friday working on this road but
there is little hope that any traffic
will be able to pass over it for
weeks, State Police said. The
workmen are busy arranging tenn
porary bridges but it will easily
take three months before regular
traffic will be able to use the road,
it was said. At midnight Thursday
night the road from Fieldsboro to
Middletown, a county road, was
still under water for more than 100
feet near where it passes Noxen-
town Lake and large part of the
roadway was washed out near Sill
yer Lake after part of the dam
gave way
Two Bridges Washed Out
County Engineer Alban P. Shaw
ordered the road closed to all traf-
fic and put the county highway
maintenance crew to work on it
Two bridges have been washed out
on this road as well as damage
mentioned A brick arched bridge
on that road, one mile south OF
/ Middletown, near historic st
Anne's Church, gave way before
the turbulent overflow of the
stream it spanned. Another bridge
one-half mile below st. Andrews
School, was also demolished. The
same fate was suffered by the Cat.
tail bridge, one mile south of tn;
bridge below st. Andrews school
A $50 foot road used as a cutoff
at Cattail Hill was reported wash
ed away. A bridge over the stream
at San Lambs was also reported
I