Milford chronicle., 1937-07-09
CCOHfinned from Firm Page1

lnc lduu UC-
gan with its full fury shortly after
o'clock Monday night. Much rain
had fallen earlier in the day and
before dark, there was a threat that
the No. l highway linking Baltimore
and New York would have to be
closed. At that hour a stream eight
miles north of Bel Air had over
flown its banks and was within a
few inches of the level of the road
way.
Many thousands of tourists gave
up all hope at o'clock on Tuesday
morning of reaching their homes
and either spent the night in their
automobiles or sought shelter in
roadside cabins and tourist homes.
Many residents opened their private
homes to the unfortunate.
Newark Badly Damaged
Newark suffered thousands of dol
lars loss from the rainstorm which
fell like a cloudburst Monday after
noon, flooding practically every eel
/ lar in the town and making the
streets impossible for hours.
I Police barred traffic from the COW
cred bridge ON North Chapel street
when fears were expressed that II
would be swept away. All highways
in the vicinity were inundated in
sections and up until an early hour
Tuesday morning no traffic was per-
! mitted over the Elkton-G Glasgow road
water standing in the highway be-
tween two and three feet deep near
the bridge crossing Big Elk Creek
a mile and a half from Elkton.
Despite many calls for assistance
in pumping water from the cellars,
the Aetna Hook, Hose and Ladder
Company, of Newark. refused to al
lows its engine to be used in this
work, contending that its future use
fulness would be impaired.
The University of Delaware, with
water UP to the first floor in the
Memorial Library, and George jack
son, owner of a hardware store,
made appeals.
Other roads which motorists
found impossible for time were
the Cooch's Bridge, New London
Ogletown, and Fair Hill. The Chesa-
peake City road remained open and
this offered an artery for those find
ing the Glasgow road closed.
Aberdeen Road Closed
The Aberdeen road to Baltimore
was closed by a bridge being swept
away, vehicles being directed by way
of Bel Air.
Police in Maryland and Delaware
estimated that hundreds of cars
we're marooned, many being mired
in the mud near the State line. New
ark and Middletown accommodations
we're taxed by motorists who found
1t impossible to continue the trip.
Garagemen in the section between
Newark and Elkton likewise found
themselves swamped.
Creeks Over Banks
The rain reached its peak in New
ark late Monday afternoon. All We
hicular traffic was halted and the
university campus resembled a SER
les of small lakes. Grocery stores re-
ported considerable loss from stocks
stored in the easements.
Creeks and streams In the cloud
burst" region started to overflow
their banks in the afternoon just as
the homeward bound holiday traffic |
was reaching its peak. The swollen |
streams sent their surplus waters |
across the highways covering brid-
ges and reaching a depth of six and
seven inches in many sections.
About a dozen State police from
the State Road and Penny Hill Sta
tions were assigned to the race
track when the storm broke.
Captain Thomas Buckmaster. OF
the Wilmington police, assigned
about Is policemen for traffic duty
along the route mapped out for race
track traffic to use in passing
the city.
Chief of Police Frank j. Mahoney
and Lieutenant Michael Jordan OF
the Wilmington police, assumed per-
sonal charge of the traffic men who
were called on to handle not only
the race track home-bound trafne,
but the unusually heavy holiday
traffic as we'll.
A railroad underpass at Delaware
Park the only exit to the parking
fields and Baltimore and Ohio
flooded to its top With
ia a few minutes after the down
pour which came just before the last i