Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1952-01-29
3.06 Inches
In "a Hours
Rain Record

w ~ @@ Va
A cold wave accompanied by
snow flurries hitting London
Monday and Tuesday helped 10
alleviate flood conditions result
ing from the record rainfall Fri
day and Saturday.
The Associated Press reported
the cold weather had eased the
ponderous sweep of a three state
Ohio River flood, but 1000 still
were homeless and nine were
dead.
In London the minimum temp
erature for the 24-hour period
Monday to Tuesday was IL de-
grees above zero and the maxi
mum 80.
The record rainfall here Friday
and Saturday of 3,66 inches pro-
duced unrivaled flood conditions
Easements Of London homes were
flooded when storm sewers were
apparently inadequate to carry
the heavy downpour. Streets in
number of places were inundated
and streams oycrfIowed their
banks.
OF the total rainfall 3.o6
inches fell i'm "a hours estah-
fishing new local record. ac-
cordina to official readings of
Leonard McNeal, weather OBJ
server. The previous record
was 2.45 inches on March fs,
1898.
City firemen worked al night
Saturday operating a fire truck
pump and one of the city port
able pumps to relieve sewers
which were backing water into
Easements of local homes. Var
ious plumbing concerns were also
operating pumps where easements
were flooded. City firenen opcr-
ated pumps at High and Elm
streets. on Oak Street, First
Street and Madison Road.
Plant Damaged
All units of the city sewage
treatment plant overfloWed rend-
ering the treatment useless. All
pump motors and others consist
ing Of eight units at the plant had
to be removed because of the
flood conditions, Leonard McNeal
operator OF the plant reported.
McNeal said it was cxpcctcd
the plant could resume normal
operation by Monday noon. How
ever 1t will be weeks before the
plant can operate properly be-
cause Of the loss Of biological
balance in the units.
State Highway Parr0lnen re-
ported the serious flood condi-
tions effecting the highways were
confined mostly to the southern
part of the state.
Road Closed
However the patrolmen were
obliged to temporarily close Route
161 west Of Plain City when wa
ter reached a II. depth at the
railroad overhead crossing. High
water also flooded the Plain City
airport area, although no serious
damage was reported
Ponds of water provided a COM
mon sight on numerous London
properties. In the county the
Highway reported that water
covered the road IN Route AZ
north of Giilivan.
vacate Homes
A number OF lamiles were
forced 10 vacate their homes oa
the north side of West JeffcTsos,
when waters Of Little Dar15
creek oyerflowcd and put an cs-
tinated three feet Of water in tho
houses on Vernon Street, Wcs
jefferson.
Several other families on tho
Lilly Chapel Road vacated tnesr
homes when the water prevented
them from operating heating
units.
They included Mr.. and Mrs.
Guy Blauser, Mr.. and Mrs. Major
Merrick and the Robert Webbs,
Families routed from their
homes on the north side of West
Jefferson by waters Of Little
Darby creek included Mr.. and
Mrs. F. W Curtis. Mr.. and Mrs.
David shockley. and son: Mr.. ard
Mrs. Lawrence Gartin and chill
dren: Mr. and Hrs. Thomas
Hollis. Mr. and Mrs. Brack TiI7is
and son and Emmett Thompson.
All the families were temporarily
housed with relatives or friends.