Evening star., 1949-08-29

HURRICANE BACKLASH Hits
New York With High Winds.
Page AS
Washington paid for slightly
cooler temperatures today by
cleaning up trees, branches and
wires knocked down when the
dying puffs of Florida hurricane
sailed through the area.
Striking at 1870 pm. the winds
averaged from 30 to 40 miles per
hour and at 1922 am. the Wealth.
er Bureaus National Airport in
struments measured a gust of 81
m.p.m.
Police and Fire Department
switchboards were sWamped by
calls for assistance. The Fire De-
partment alone received $50 calls
between 1880 and 2::30 am, some
of them duplicated. When it was
all over, operators counted %
calls of trees down, So calls about
fallen limbs and % reports on
electric wires down.
Heavy Tobacco Damage.
Coming up out of the Carolinas,
through Virginia, the big blow
from Florida still packed enough
wallop to cause some anxious
moments. A twister struck the
small community of Wakefield.
Va, so miles southeast of Rich
mond, demolishing three homes.
Aside from broken power lines,
which caused blackouts both in
the District and in nearby Mary
land and Virginia, the severest
damage to surrounding areas ap-
peared to be to crops, particularly
tobacco.
Reports from Calvert and Anne
Arundel counties in Maryland said
tobacco fields we're badly washed.
Extent of the wind gusts was
indicated by the way metal
sheeting around the Raleigh Ho-
tel was ripped away, section by
section, for seven stories down
from the roof. The metal sections
fell with a clatter, breaking win
dows and skylights.
Falling Trees Damage Cars.
Several cars were damaged by
falling trees and branches. The
fire department kept busy remov-
ing trees large enough to block
roadways. Most of the District
damage was ceptered in the mid
town and northwest sectors.
Weather Bureau observers here
said the blow was caused by the
same "low center" that sent a
costly hurricane rocketing into
Florida and Georgia last week.
But the blow also assisted a gush
of cool air to get in from the
Northwest, and early today the
winds fell to about Is miles an
hour. coming from the northwest.
Although storm warnings still
were up along the coast from
Cape Hatteras to Portland, Me.
the winds had fallen to about 80
m.p.h. west of Harrisburg, Pa,
and no more damage was ex-
pected.
A high temperature in the mid
sos was expected here today. Yes
terday's high was 81 degrees. To-
nights low will be about 81 de-
grees and tomorrow will be fair.
less humid and no hotter than
80 degrees, the bureau said.
The rainfall last night totaled
.98 of an inch.
Crews Work Through Night.
Reports of rs fallen electric
wires in the District, Montgom-
cry and Prince Georges Counties
caused Potomac Electric Co. to
dispatch 140 repairmen, consti-
tuting % crews. They worked
throughout the night and still
were repairing damage this morn
ing.
Power failures were reported in
Virginia, too. and Virginia Elec-
trio Power Co. combated black
outs in Alexandria and other
points with nine maintenance
crews.
The Prince Georges Fire Board
reported complaints from Chew
erley, Cottage City, Hyattsville,
Mount Rainier, Branchville and
Fairmount Heights, indicating the
storm jumped around.
At least two radio stations were
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