Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-05-24
Storm Causes
Mercury Drop
Of "a Degrees
Roof of Interior
Building Struck
By Lightning

washington today in the wake o.
a severe electrical storm that sen
the mercury tumbling "a degrees
and damaged homes and offices, in.
Guiding the north Interior Depart
ment Building.
No one was seriously injured II
any of the buildings hit, but 6
fireman, returning from a call a
1912 Forty-ffth street NV, where
lightning bolt struck the chimney
was hurt when he fell from a fire
truck.
The temperature dropped from
a maximum of SO at 2:l0 pm. tC
so degrees an hour later. High
winds accompanied the squall
which deposited Al of an inch
of rain on the city.
High of IS Forecast Today.
The Weather Bureau predicted
clear and somewhat cooler weather
for today. with a high of rs degrees
dropping to 50 degrees tonight. To-
morrow, according to the forecast
also will be clear. The temperature
is expected to stay below 30 degrees
tomorrow.
At the Interior Department, the
bolt struck tine roof Immediately
above the Offices of Nathan Straus,
United States housing administrat-
or, knocking away a 6foot Sec
ton of the limestone coping. Mr..
Straus was not in his office at the
time.
Chunks of the foot-thick coping
fell to the street but no one was
hit. Police roped off the sidewalk
below the spot where the lightning
struck.
The police radio dispatching sta
ton was turned off for II minutes
during the storm and patrol cars
were called in.
Chest Fiesta Ruined.
The Community Chest fiesta, with
It's South American villages on the
Charles Carroll Glover estate at
1900 Massachusetts avenue NV,
was ruined by the storm. Booths
and exhibits were so battered that
no attempt will be made to hold
the fiesta Monday as had been
planned in case Of rain.
More than 1000 persons, gathered
on the lawn when the storm struck,
fled to shelter in the Glover home
and on the porches. Boy Scouts
struggled to save the decorations and
herd about 500 children to shelter.
Mrs. Roosevelt, who had been
scheduled to arrive at $3.50 pm,
came in spite of the storm and saw
dampened visitors leaving the estate
and green lawns strewn with the
Vreckage of the fiesta. The Recep-
ton Committee, which had hardly
expected her to come at all, reas-
sembled hastily to discuss Chest
work with her.
The injured fireman was Arthur
c. Benson, 81, Woodmont, Md, at
tached to No. II Truck Co. He was
riding on the side of the truck and
holding on to a side ladder when his
coat sleeve dislodged the lock pin
holding the ladder on the truck.
When the ladder came loose, he was
thrown to the street. The fireman
was admitted to Emergency Hos
pltal with abraSionS and an injured
back.
Part of Chimney DislOdged.
Little damage was done when
lightning struck the chimney at the
Torty-f1fth street address from which
he was returning. At 4347 Brandy
vine street NV. a bolt of lightning
knocked off part of the chimney,
penetrated through the side of the
mouse, showering plaster over the
second floor and entered the ground,
according to police.
Also struck was the home of
Edward L. Hayes in Hillside, Md,
where a curtain was burned in the
living room.
Nearby, a Virginia Public Service
GO. electrical transformer caught fire
at Mason avenue and Mount Vernon
avenue, Alexandria police reported.
Police said lightning apparently
struck the pole and short circuited
the power company line.
A 4000-volt feeder line in the
Bethesda section of Montgomery
County went out of commission
shortly after the storm broke. Power
breaks we're reported at Rockville,
Md, at the Riverdale substation and
IN Anacostia
In Potomac Park, eight trees were
'elled during the storm, two of them
struck by lightning. Flood lights
that play on the Washington Monu-
ment were out.
No Benefit for Virginia Crops.
Yesterdays rain had little effect
on Virginia crops, according to State
Commissioner of Agriculture L. M.
ir.
In Baltimore, the thunderstorm
ended four-day heat wave but
damaged half a dozen buildings
The wind ripped the roof and second
floor from a tWo-story storage
building in the downtown section,
pouring lumber and rubble into the
street to wreck three automobiles.
Torrential rains snarled late after
noon traffic while windows were
smashed and automobiles damaged
by falling trees.
In Vienna, Va, a bolt of light
ming struck tree near a colored
home, Travelled along a clothes line
and up a radio antena into the
house, starting a fire which de-
stroyed the building. firemen re-
ported The Vienna Volunteer Fire
said all the telephones
In the area were put out of service
by the blast, forcing two young
of Earl Thomas, owner
Of the building. to run nearly three
quarters of mile to summon help.
Thomas was not at home when