Milford chronicle., 1935-09-13
MILFORD SUFFERS
WORST FLOOD In.
RECENT YEARS.
CONFINED from First Pagel

through w. v. Sipple's marble yaI
4 with regular streams, disrupting tf
D Chevrolet agency and Webb's gal
sge activities. The Milford Aul
Body Works, the Milford Batter
T Repair Shop, and the lumber yard
[ Of 1. d. Short and L. N. Hearn weT
/. also under water. w. R. Kitchens
proprietor of the Red Mill, reporte
over four feet of water on his frs
floor. Water covered West and Eas
Front streets, Railroad avenue an
portions of Walnut street. In bust
ness houses along the main stree
water seeped under the foundation
passing through from back to from
and for a time it was feared it wOulC
come through the floors. Many of the
merchants removed stocks to place
of safety.
Two negroes we're rescued from
being carried down the turbulent
Mispillion when they attempted to
salvage goods from a garage in
which they were employed. They
were Peter Fountain and Daniel
Purnell and their rescueT was Ar
thur PurnelI, negro, an employee Of
Sipple marble yard. AS the two were
csught up by the surging waters
about the garage and carried to-
ward the river, Arthur Purnell SVEN
cut to them and brought them to
safety. The near tradegy occurred at
Railroad avenue and West Front
street.
At Blair's Mill Pond, near Mil
ford, the bridge spanning the dam,
was saved by the Houston Fire
Company, by reinforcing with bags
of sand and dirt. The bridge at Abb
bott's pond was completely washed
away.
Led by City Manager Charles E.
Banning a group of men placed sand
bags along The L. D. Caulk Com
pany bridge to keep back the wa
ters of Silver Lake and to prevent
the undermining of that foundation.
At Haven Lake another srOup OF
men labOTed all day to save the dam
and bridge at that point. Had the
waters forced the dam there the
bridge and dam at The L. d. Caulk
Company would have also given
away and instead of 81 inches of
" ater the height of the food would
have been increased to at least four
feet throughout the entire business /
section. 1t is the belief that had the (
various dam gates been opened ear
iler in the week the backing up of
the water in Milford on Thursday
right and Friday could have been
avoided.
In Other Sections
Two bridges between Greenwood
and Glendale collapsed and one on
The road from Greenwood to Mil
lord and another on the Harrington
Milford road gave way. A span he
.ween Harrington and Frederick al
10 gave away. Among roads closed
Is a result of damage were the
1arringtOn-Milfo road, Glendale
road and the Bridgeville-
road. Below Dover on
he Frederica causeway water was
Ip to the running boards of automO- ]
,;les and one-way traffic was main :
aimed. Practically all roads leading
rom Delaware into Maryland were
lOsed on either the Delaware or '
Iaryland side.
Oliver A. Newton. chairman of the
tate Board of Agriculture, said that
etween 6 p. m. last Thursday and
a. m. last Friday, TX inches of {
ain had fallen in the Bridgeville \
rea. The lost to crops was tremen-
Gus said Mr.. Newton. Tomatoes are
early all gone, he said, and added
lat water-logged as they now are,
ven on the higher ground. they can O
Ot properly ripen or color In some '
arts of Bridgeville he said the wa
+ was running Is inches deep, v
lusing automobiles to stall. I
The chief damage in the vicinity of d
aurel it was related was also to to- q
alto crops. The crops in the low +
nds being totally ruined, and those s
the higher lands suffering i'm u
damage. Two or three e
i'll ponds were washed out in the Il
cinity of Laurel, cutting off some
ads but none of the main high
ays. The only roads affected were
ose adjoining the mill ponds. ~
At Harrington over half of the N
wn was under four feet of water. N
cellars were flooded. q
lie store of former Senator w. G. IT
cObs was flooded up to the first nc
or making it necessary for him to OF
we his merchandise. In the same VII
Vn the funeral of 11-year-old Har- "a
johnson. who was shot and kill M
while walking on the streets -
re last Tuesday had to be defer
because of the heavy waters. "a "a
III bridges between Harrington Cn
Milford were washed out, and "s
rpenter's bridge on the route to m tmol
sderica, was also washed out. The va
OOl at Harrington was completely iei i.
rounded by water. my
rom Seaford, it was reported sei
ut four bridges were washed
ny. The bridge over Chapel out
inch at Seaford gave way, the raj
'am, overloaded to a depth of ira.
10 feet. forcing. its way so that lin
drainage pipes were insufficient bel
1ear the load. The bridge over as
rs Branch, two miles from the ser
pei Branch, was also washed bet
due TO the pipes failure to stand nal
load. The latter stream, ordiRarl in
having from one to two feet Of tive
er, was at height of about eight o
en- feet. cull
sing situated on high ground, rOal
'Ord was saved from any great entl