Evening star., 1939-01-23
Northeast Section
Without Wafer
For Il Hours
56-MiIe Gale and
Low Temperature
Add to Dangers

Citizens of an 18-square- mile area
Of Northeast Washington suffered
the pangs of thirst. great incon-
venience and the threat of serious
danger in case of fire for II hours
yesterday, when broken main at
Rhode Island avenue and Summit
street NE. shut off their water
supply for most of the day.
Wind whipped by 56-mile gale
and sub-freezing temperatures
complicated the situation when the
water main burst under the street
pavement at $50 am. and cracked
the soil between the sidewalk and
the curbstone with a giant geyser
of water.
The immediate neighborhood was
virtually flooded. including the
Easements of several residences and
apartment houses. People arose in
the early hours of Sunday, antici-
pating quiet, comfortable Sabbath
at home, and found they had no
water for washing, cooking or drink
ing.
Repairs Completed.
Repairs on the broken main were
not completed. however, until am.
today, the District Water Depart
ment reported.
\ The break occurred in main
feeder line that runs into the entire
Northeast section east of North Cap
itol street, north of Florida avenue
and to the District lines on the north
and east sides. This included the
Bladensburg road area and the Ma
tional Training School for Boys and
other institutions.
The Water Department reported
every home in the section was de-
prived of water until the break was
isolated. This was accomplished at
8 am. yesterday and two hours later
residents in the lower part of the
affected area were able to get water.
There was not enough pressure, how
ever, to send water to higher points.
Service was actually restored at 6
o'clock last night when water was
drawn from the tank at Cheverly,
Md.
Tank Trucks Assigned.
The break confronted the Fire
Department with dangerous situ-
alton, since it would have been
unable to cope with any large blaze
that might have occurred. Tank
trucks from the District sewer and
refuse department were assigned to
fire stations in the affected neigh
borhood, with two special tank
trucks at No. II Engine Company,
1900 block of Monroe street NE.
Each of the latter has a capacity
of 2,200 gallons of water, enough
to run the pump trucks for two
minutes.
Fortunately, there were no fires
IN the area.
Emergency crews of the District
Water Department labored through
out the day to repair the broken
main, finally accomplishing their
task at pm. A few homes in
the area, meanwhile, had begun
to receive water from other mains
Traffic Is Closed.
Traffic on Rhode Island avenue
from Lincoln road to Fourth street
NE. was closed during the day on
account of the flood from the break
The entire avenue and surrounding
streets we're flooded before the water
was shut off.
The worst affected sections were
Michigan Park, Woodbridge and
Brookland.
The contents of one of the tank
trucks was distributed to Catholic
sisters, mothers with babies and i'll
persons near the Monroe street fire
station. The truck was then sent
across town to be refilled Late in
the day the station was giving water
only in emergency cases in order
to keep the maximum supply on
hand for fire protection.
Girls Go Without Water.
Catholic University drew a small
supply from it's own water truck,
while the girls at Trinity College
had to go without water all day.
Some~families went virtually all day
without food. Buildings equipped
for steam heating were without
adequate heat all day.
High winds caused fairly extern
sive property damage. There were
a number of fallen trees and the
plate glass windows of several busi-
ness establishments were shattered.
Some of the Northeast citizenry
had to drive for miles for water.
Restaurants were unable to wash
dishes or serve drinking water. A
bakery turned away scores of Gus
toners seeking bread and water.
Grease that spilled on a stove
at the home of V. E. Howard, 5000
Fifteenth street NE, caught fire
and shot flames to the ceiling, but
Mrs. Howard beat out the flames
with a bundle of rags.
Several high-tension wires were
blown down during the day, but
they caused no fires