Imperial Valley press., 1943-12-10
Valley Surveys
Damage From
Sweeping Storm
Continued from page II

rain caused only one major inter
ruption of the power service of the
Imperial Irrigation district. This
was in the Tamarack district west
of Imperial. The electrical dis
turbance was most severe in the
southern part of the valley where
the greatest interruption occurred.
w. E. Hartzog, superintendent of
water distribution and construction
for the irrigation district said there
was little water to contend with in
the east side areas but on the west
side area near Dixieland Friday
morning 200 second feet of water
was flowing into the WeStSide Main
canal. This canal was running
bank to bank before noon Friday in
the WeStmorland and Trifolium
areas to the northwest. Water was
cut oCt of the WeStside Main canal
at midnight Friday. The San Felipe
wash in the Trifolium area was
also running bank to bank.
Country roads throughout the
county were slick and muddy and
in some places pools of water stood
oll DdNCQ lOdNS. AL lOdllS ltdu-
ing in and out of the valley were
hpassable although it was necessary
to proceed slowly because water in
some places was up to the hubs of
cars and trucks. Up to noon Friday
no reports of bridges being out had
been received at road district head
/ quarters in any district in the
county.
Greatest damage in Ell Centre
was suffered by the Sears Roebuck
store between Seventh and Eighth
on Main, where water flooded the
basement and the main floor, caus-
| ing as yet unestimated damage to
the basement and its merchandise
and between $500 and $1,000 worth
of damage to main floor merchan-
disc. Crews worked all night bat
tling the water, four pumps being
installed in the basement. Between
20 and 80 persons were working
Friday to clean up and salvage was
possible The main floor was ex-
pected to be open for business Sat
urday.
Water seeped into the basement
at the Imperial Hardware but did
little damage, and washed thinly
onto the main floor from the front
door to a point 80 feet back in the
store but store employees were able
to prevent damage.
Sandbags were put out all along
Main street but the water, running
almost from curb to curb in several
blocks, washed into garage and store
interiors when cars travelled swiftly
through the flooded streets. The
water washed through the Barbara
Worth garage from street to alley.
c. K. Patton. superintendent of
Ell Centre street crews and Clyde
Lee, city office engineer. reported
that the southwest section of El
Centro suffered the greatest storm
damage as water from the rural
areas outlying that section are
draining into town.
Lee reported that the section be-
tween Seventh and Eighth streets
of being lower than the surround
on State were under water because
ing areas. Easements in many
residences and at the post office
were flooded, he said.
Patton, who remained on duty
through the night at the sewer Sys-
tenn outlets in the northwest part
of this city, stated that up to noon
Friday the system was disgOrging
$500 gallons per minute. This was
due to the fact that most of the
storm water was draining from the
citys streets into manholeS and
were being carried by the 27 inch
sewer pipes as fast as they could
handle the water.
The system is over-taXed, but is
doing an excellent job Patton said.
As long as the electrical pumps
continue, it is just matter of time
before the water will be drained
off,
Patton and Lee stated ther big
gest problem at the moment is the
condition in the southwest part of
the city where flood waters from
the southwest farm area is sweep
ing into the city and the sewer
system cannot handle this water
too.
The Southern California Tele-
phone company reported there was
not as much trouble as expected
from this storm as the one earlier
in the week Most of the bad spots
were cleared up then, officials said.
Most of the trouble Thursday night
and Friday was in the Ell Centre
area, center of the storm.
Railroad service in and out of
Imperial Valley was normal.
County Agricultural Commission
er B. A. Harrigan said that it
would be a few days before the
actual damage could be ascertained.
The weather would determine
whether the early lettuce blew up"
or could be harvested when the
fields became dry enough.
The bad condition of many roads
caused elimination of milk delivery
to the creameries. Friday morning
the Golden State reported that
only 10 per cent of the milk was
delivered to the plant from the
farms. Fifty-two per cent of the
dairymen delivering to that COM
pany failed to do SO Friday morn
ing, Charles Bramkamp said.
Cars were stalled all over Ell
Centre and motorists made frantic
efforts to get them started, wading
through the knee-deep water in
many instances to reach their ma
chimes. On the country roads cars
in several instances slid into bor-
row pits and had to be pulled out.
The severity of the storm leSSened