Evening star., 1940-06-16

broke through the macadam on
q section of old Foxhall road, be-
tween the Capital Transit line and
Canal road The gushing main
hurled flood down the hillside
into Canal road, carrying rocks,
small trees and debris with it.
Almost in the path Of the torrent
was the frame house of Mr.. and
Mrs. Thomas G. Wintermyer. Mrs
Wintermyer, alone with her two
small children, fled with them to
higher ground. She carried what
valuables she could, and furniture
later was moved from the mouse
Cascading down the hillside, the
torrent crossed Canal road and
flowed over 4-foot guard wall into
the c. & O. Canal. The swirling
current swung eastward along Canal
road until it reached the culvert at
Foundry Branch, sometimes used by
automobiles to pass beneath the
canal. There the water whirled
around the ends of the culvert,
washing away great chunks of the
old roadway leading to the tunnel,
breaking away parts of the concrete
on Canal road and undermining a
telephone pole.
Autos Are Trapped.
More than score of automobiles
which had reached the river bank
by way of the tunnel beneath the
canal were unable to return. Some
drivers decided to return to George
town by way of the bumpy course
along the B. e. o. Railroad tracks
to K street.
On the river side of the culvert
and tunnel the water famed out,
flooding the yards Of river-bank
homes and leaving ankle-deep mud
over the railroad tracks.
The break occurred about $40
o'clock and quickly attracted a large
crowd. Police were called to keep
the crowd from the scene of the
break while emergency crews cut
off the water from the reservoir to
the broken pipe.
AS the water supply failed under
lowered pressure or was cut of en-
tirely, District Building switchboards
were swamped with telephone calls.
Oficials were forced to make radio
appeal to the public not to call the
District about the water situation
until normal service could be re-
stored.
Water also was cut off at Provi-
dence, Georgetown, Columbia and
Episcopal Ear, Nose and Throat
Hospitals. The service was inter-
rupted for a short time at Casualty
and Freedmens Hospitals, it was
said.
Georgetown Hospital remained
longer without water than any other,
as it was in the last area to be re-
turned to service. Some drinking
water was purchased for patients,
and one operation, which was not
an emergency, had to be postponed.
Later the District Water Depart
ment furnished $500 gallons to
Georgetown Hospital to meet the
needs through the night.
Failure of the water supply on
Capitol Hill shut off the cooling sys-
tenn in the Senate while that body
was in session.
Downtown Area Escapes.
Most of the lower downtown area
was unaffected by the break, as it is
supplied by gravity lines, with
some higher buildings using their
own pumps. The low-pressure area,
however, spread widely throughout
the city, as far east as Seventeenth
street NE, according to Water De-
partment officials.
Restoration of water was possible
without repairing the break because
the city's supply is controlled Sec
tionally by a series of large valves
D. w. Holton, superintendent of the
Water Department, explained.
The first valve to be closed was at
the reservoir on Foxhall road, not
far north of the break. This took
more than an hour, it was said.
Next, emergency crews closed a
valve at Twenty y-eighth and M
streets NV, below the leak, per.
mitting pressure to be restored tt
the major portion of the city from
the pumping plant on Bryant street
This was accomplished about 6;3|
o'clock and brought normal pressure
to all of the city except that par
of Georgetown lying roughly be-
tween Rock Creek Park. Thirty
seventh street. M and @ streets NV
Residents of the Georgetown are'
got buckets and carried water from
areas not affected by the break.
A filling station at Wisconsin ave