Evening star. [volume], July 24, 1940, Page A-3, Image 3

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
lashing Storm Fails
To Break Heat Wave;
Damage Is Heavy
Roofs and Trees Are Hit
Hard by Wind as Rain
Floods Many Homes
More thundershowers were on tap
for the District today, coming in
the wake of a near cloudburst which
practically paralyzed the city for
an hour last night.
The Weather Bureau said that
more rain could be expected this
afternoon, followed by clear skies
tonight. The temperature will be
lower today than during the past
week—with a maximum of about
88 degrees expected—but the hu
midity will be excessive. Tomorrow
will be hot, it was predicted, but
there will be more showers.
The storm struck the city about
8:30 p.m., dumping an inch and a
half of water on the streets in less
than an hour. Rain continued to
fall until 10 p.m., when the gauge
at the Weather Bureau showed a fall
of 2.60 inches—the heaviest rain
since last September.
Before the temperature dropped
two had died and more than a dozen
persons had been hospitalized by the
heat. The high for the day was
90 degrees, around 1 p.m., accom
panied by excessive humidity.
A second death was blamed on
yesterday’s heat when an autopsy
conducted at the District Morgue
today revealed that W. B. Crews,
35, of 740 Third street N.W., who
collapsed while working on a le
modeling job at the Hecht Co., had
been killed by the heat.
John F. Barry, 69, of 3609 Tenth
Street N.W. died of heat prostration
and 11 persons were treated for ex
haustion at Emergency Hospital.
A heavy wind dipped down into
nearby Montgomery County, ripping
off roofs and blowing down trees.
In the city, streets were covered with
water—which was over the curbs
even downtown and which stood as
much as 3 feet deep elsewhere.
Street Cars Stalled.
Electric power failed in some
places, street cars were stalled by
short circuits, traffic was congested
and several accidents were caused
by the storm. Fire engines raced
through the downpour, responding
to alarms caused by fire and flood.
The rain broke the heat, sending
the mercury down from 85 degrees
at 5 p.m. to 71 at 7 p.m. The tem
peratures remained in the 70s during
the night, and this morning was the
coolest the city had known in a
week.
City refuse workers were in action
today, cleaning up debris left by
the downpour. Last night the
Bewer Division was reinforced by
emergency crews of firemen to pump
out flooded basements.
Concert Is Canceled.
The concert of Leopold Stokow
ski's All-American Youth Orchestra
at the Water Gate was canceled at
the last minute. The orchestra and
a number of spectators showed up
and waited until 8:30 pjn. before
It was announced definitely that
the show was off.
C. C. Cappel, manager of the
National Symphony, said that tickets
for last night’s performance could
be turned in for cash refunds or
would be good for “rain check”
performances at Constitution Hall
this fall.
Mr. Cappel said that it was hoped
that the orchestra could appear here
twice after its South American tour, ;
Plans will be announced later, he
said.
Capitol Air-Conditioning Fails.
Members of Congress and their
employes, accustomed to manufac
tured cool air on hot and sultry
days, perspired for a while today
when the Capitol’s $4,000,000 air
conditioning plant temporarily went
out of operation.
David Lynn, supervising architect
of the Capitol, said the violent elec
trical storm last night was the in
direct cause of the trouble. He ex
plained that leaves and other debris
washed against a screen at the Cap
itol power plant on the banks of the
Potomac River caused the generators
to stop functioning, and as a result
the electric supply was cut off until
the screen was cleaned.
The storm did little damage at the
Capitol. However, the subways lead
ing from the Capitol to both the
Senate and House Office Buildings
were flooded at several points when
sewers in the Capitol Grounds be
came choked at the height of the
storm.
Damage on Rockville Pike.
The greatest storm damage in
Montgomery County was along the
Rockville pike, between Halpine and
Bethesda, and in the River Road
area, southwest of Bethesda.
In those two sections the storm
uprooted and twisted hundreds of
trees, damaged several homes, tore
down electric and telephone lines,
ruined crops and tore away signs
from several stores.
In several sections of the county
electric light service was disrupted.
Residents around Montrose said
their lights were out throughout
the night. In Gaithersburg the
lights were out 'for nearly live
hours, and in Rockville for an hour
and a halt
Anacostia appeared to have been
the hardest hit section of the city.
Eleventh precinct police reported
that dozens of streets and homes in
the section were flooded.
Sheridan road, off Nichols avenue
6. E., was turned into a stream,
with residents of houses there re
porting that water was standing 3
feet deep on the first floors of their
homes. Damage along Morris road
BE. also w'as heavy, police reported.
Hospital Wall Washed Out.
A section of the brick wall around
Bt. Elizabeth’s Hospital collapsed
during the storm when its founda
tions were washed out.
In the Northwest heaviest damage
was reported along Conduit, Canal
and Reservoir roads. Streets were
washed out in many places and
police put up barricades.
Water stood several feet deep on
the streets at such places as Ninth
and D streets S.W., at some points
on Reservoir road N.W. and at many
places in Rock Creek Park.
Firemen responded to more than
BO calls during the storm. Some
calls were to put out fires caused by
lightning or by short circuits, while
many others came from citizens who
were flooded out.
The police radio was forced to
shut down at the height of the storm’
because of interference caused by
lightning. Scout cars were ordered
to report to their stations and were
dispatched from the precincts on
distress calls.
Automobiles were stalled on the
streets, causing traffic tie-ups in
many places.
Basements of downtown office
buildings, as well as homes, were
flooded. Trees were down in many
places and broken branches littered
many streets.
Business establishments along the
Georgetown water front reported
serious damage from flooding.
Chemicals in the Briggs Clarifier
Co., manufacturers of filtering
equipment, were ruined, while two
other establishments in the 3200
block of K street N.W.. the War
ring Barrel plant and the District
Building Supply Co., reported dam
age.
The District Building and Police
Department switchboards were
swamped with hundreds of calls
from citizens in distress during the
storm. The Sewer Division was busy
with emergency calls.
The electric power supply failed
at the Montgomery County (Md.)
General Hospital from shortly after
5 p.m. to nearly 10 pm., hospital
attendants reported. The hospital
staff was forced to use oil lamps,
but no operations were scheduled
and no serious consequences re
sulted.
The Chevy Chase Fire Depart
ment answered a call to the home
of W. K. Crosby at 7 Leland court
during the height of the storm wl\ere
lightning set fire to the roof.
Lightning also did minor damage
to the Virginia Public Service Co.
generating plant in Alexandria re
sulting in temporary disruption of
service.
When lights in the Montrose sec
tion went off the Roadside Players
were forced to cancel presentation
of “The Frog,” mystery thriller.
Many of the trees uprooted and
twisted in the storm were on estates
bordering the Rockville pike, near
Garrett Park, and Montrose.
At the White Flint Country Club,
directly across the Rockville pike
from Mrs. Bowie’s estate, steel poles
bearing the flag markers on the golf
course were twisted like* matches.
During the storm more than a score
of caddies and golfers took refuge in
the caddy house near the club.
They were trapped when two huge
trees fell across the front and rear
doors.
Lawrence Hogan, a caddy, said
the group, frightened when the
trees fell, climbed through the
windows of the caddy house and
raced through the heavy rain to
the clubhouse.
AFTER THE STORM WAS OVER—The District area has been praying for some
relief from the heat for days now. Last night it got it—on a large scale. The
heavy rain which hit Washington was accompanied by a freak wind storm, which
stopped In Montgomery Country, on the District’s doorstep. Here is what the wind
did to the home of Ed OfTutt on the Rockville pike, near Montrose, Md. Four trees
were uprooted in the yard. —Star Staff Photo,
A_ ■ -
Buildings
(Continued From First Page.)
Department. This building was
formerly used as a roller skating
rink. Its 18,000 square feet of floor
space, there being only one story,
is now being converted into as
sembly room and offices.
The Superior Motors Building,
1504 Fourteenth street N.W., recent
ly remodeled, is now being occupied
by units of Civil Aeronautics direct
ing civilian training courses. In all.
21,200 square feet of new space has
been made available.
Another private building taken
over in its entirety is at 1510 H
street N.W. It has been leased for
the use of the Office of Government
Reports. The agency will continue
to occupy space in the Commercial
Bank Building.
Building Is Being Remodeled.
About 34,000 square feet of offices
in the Atlantic Building, 928 F
street N.W., will be leased for units
of the Civil Service Commission now
expanding under the defense pro
gram. The building is being re
modeled by the owners. Units of the
Forest Service vacated it two
months ago.
The Risek Building, 1737 L street
N.W., also is being remodeled with
a view to making 16,000 square feet
of offices available to the Commodity
Credit Corp., now located at 1825 H
street.
The Federal Communications
Commission will take over the fifth
floor and smaller space units of the
International Building, 1319 F street
N.W. This change was made pos
sible by the consolidation of offices
of the Securities and Exchange
Commission at 1424 K street N.W.
The Social Security Board will
vacate the Potomac Park Apart
ments, Twenty-first and C streets
N.W., in about two weeks and the
building will be made available for
the rapidly growing needs of the
War Department and the Council |
pf National Defense.
Another important move is being
made by the Reconstruction Finance
Corp. which had formerly rented the
new Lafayette Building at Fifteenth
and I streets N.W. This move makes
the old Commerce Building, 1825 H
street N.W., available to the scat
tered units of the Old-Age Insur
ance Division of the Social Secur
ity Board. The units are now lo
cated in the Potomac Park Apart
ments, temporary building No. 2 and
the Arlington Hotel.
Temporary building No. 2, located
at Twentieth street and New York
avenue N.W., is now partially occu
pied by the War Department and
the space being vacated will be taken
over by the National Defense Coun
cil.
Baltic Assets Frozen
LONDON, July 24 (A*).—'The
Treasury announced today an order
in council freezing gold securities
and other assets controlled in this
country by Estonian, Latvian and
Lithuanian interests.
CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENT. ~
CCIjrifitian atth
JHtnaUmaru AUianre
Even tne Capitol buildings were flooded during the storm last night. John Dean, William
Mason and Homer Lloyd (left to right) are shown working to clear the water from the corridors
of the old House Office Building. —Star Staff Photo.
27 Pepco Trucks Via Radio
Handled 1,500 Trouble Calls
A new short wave broadcasting
system, linking the headquarters of
the Potomac Electric Power Co. with
27 emergency trouble-shooter trucks,
proved its worth yesterday afternoon
when it was placed into operation
hardly two hours before a wide
spread rain and wind storm struck
this area.
With a number of telephone lines
out of commission, the company
would not have been able to reach
the crews if the radio system had
not been available. As it was, the
27 trucks equipped with receiving
sets were able to be dispatched im
mediately to places where power
lines were down.
The power company was swamped
with approximately 1,500 calls be
tween 5:30 p.m. and midnight. Most
of the lines disabled were in Mont
gomery County around Gaithers
burg, Rockville, Sandy Spring and
Norbeck. A line on River road also
was out of service.
As fast as the calls poured into
the office, the trucks were sent
scurrying to make repairs. Line
crews worked all night.
Although only 27 emergency
trucks have receiving sets at pres
ent, some 300 more will be likewise
equipped in the near future, offi
cials said.
J. H. Ferry, vice president, ques
tioned as to whether the new short
wave system was set up to cope
with possible sabotage of the vital
power system, said the firm was not
prompted to install it by fear of this
possibility, although it would prove
valuable in such an emergency.
German Hunters Bag
$12,000,000 a Year
Germany's food shortage has been
alleviated by game and wild fowl
hunters.
It is estimated in Berlin that last
year’s total bag .provided Germans
with $11,600,000 worth of game, such
as stag, deer, rabbit and fowl. The
returns for furs and skins added
another $1,200,000.
After discounting the damage
done by game to crops in Germany
experts estimate the game balance,
including the hides and skins, at
$12,000,000 a year, not to*mention
the importance of game as a factor
in overcoming the meat shortage.
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Mrs. Spilman fo Be Bride
Of Laurens M. Hamilton
Mrs. Eva Stewart Spilman, daugh
ter of Percy Hamilton Steward and
the late Mrs. Stewart of Plainfield,
N. J„ was to be married today at
her home at The Plains, Va., to
Laurens M. Hamilton of Palm Beach,
Fla., a grandson of the late J. Pier
pont Morgan, in the presence of
members the immediate families.
Mrs. Spilman, the former Eva
Cochran Stewart, is a granddaughter
of the late Mr. and Mrs. William
Francis Cochran.
Mr. Hamilton is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. William Pierson Hamilton.
He is a great-great-grandson of
Alexander Hamilton.
After their wedding trip, Mr. and
Mrs. Hamilton will spend the sum
mer in Southampton. They will live
in Palm Beach after passing the
fall at Byrnely Farms, near Hie
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FVI ESTIMATES
Berlin
_(Continued From First Page.)
gestions for easing old tensions in
the Balkans which she is prepared
to recommend with more or less
urgency.
Informed sources reiterated Ger
many wants peace in the southeast
and that she may be regarded as
having a vital interest in any events
tending to disturb order in that
region.
Salzburg Meeting Friday.
Premier Ion Gigurtu and Foreign
Minister Mihail Manoilescu of Ru
mania were scheduled to meet Von
Ribbentrop at Salzburg Friday and
it was understood they would be
followed by the Bulgarian Premier
and Foreign Minister.
(Reports from Bucharest said
a Hungarian delegation also
would visit Germany during the
week end. In Sofia it was un
derstood the Bulgarian repre
sentatives would ask Germany,
to support demands for return \.
of Southern Dobruja from Ru
mania as well as an outlet to the
Aegean Sea through Greece.)
The German press reported Hun
gary had launched measures to give
autonomy to Carpatho-Russia bor
dering the Russian-occupied region
of Poland, but insisted vigorously
no developments in the southeast
could be interpreted as impairing
Russian-German relations.
Swedish papers were censured for
commenting upon the possibility of
friction between Berlin and Moscow,
the Boersen Zeitung calling such
comment "untimely.”
It was announced a Nazi commis
sion had arrived in Moscow to ar
range for settlement in Germany
of some 110,000 Germans now living
in areas ceded to Russia by Ru
mania.
Germans living in Lithuania,
which has petitioned Moscow for
inclusion in the Soviet Union, also
will be returned to Germany.
German Raid Claims
Denied by British
LONDON, July 24 OP).—Authori
tative quarters, commenting on Ger
man claim that Nazi bombers “hit
important rail and road objectives
in England,” said today:
"German raids over the 24 hours
in question were so slight that Brit
ish authorities found it unnecessary
to issue any communique on the
subject.”
Girl Guides of Carlisle, England,
j collected 5,522 eggs for troop can
Heat and Drownings
Cost 247 Lives as
Nation Swelters
Weather Bureau Holds .
No Promise of Relief and
Crop Damage Is Feared
By the Associated Press. Is
A wilted half of the Nation cried
"uncle” again today, but the blazing
sun gave no sign of relenting. ■
From the Eastern seaboard to
the Great Plains it was the same
daily story it has been for a week—
and in some sections longer—rising
temperature, possibly scattered
thundershowers, but no real relief
in prospect. At least 247 deaths in
the Nation were attributed to heat
and drownings.
The sun was on the job early as
usual and gave indications of im
proving on yesterday’s job of shoot
ing the mercury up to as high as 115
in Pierre, S. Oak., and above the
100 mark in other places.
The national death toll due to the
wave mounted to 72 deaths from the
heat and 175 from drowning.
Mercury Heads Higher.
The mercury shot from 82 to 99
in 20 minutes at Pipestone, Minn.,
this morning. Other early-morning
readings included 78 and headed for
the mid-nineties in Detroit; 75 in
Albany, N. Y„ compared with 71
at the same hour yesterday, when a
minimum of 90 was reached; a range
from 79 to 87 in Nebraska, where the
heat wave was in its eighth day;
73 in New York City, cloudy and
humid; 89 in Terra Haute, Ind.; 87
in Richmond, Ind.; 88 in Indianapo
lis; the low 70s and 80s in Penn
sylvania. but "sticky” atmosphere
increased discomfort; 95 in Chicago,
where the record eight-day heat
wave of 1934 appeared likely to be
broken.
Thundershowers came to the Mid
dle Atlantic States and some other
regions yesterday to give temporary
respite, but abnormally hot weather
l persisted generally from the Rockies
to the Eastern seaboard.
Forecasters said the Ohio Valley |
and lower Lake regions may be
cooler Friday, but that no wide
spread break in the heat wave was
indicated.
Com Damage Feared.
Nebraska, in its second week of
100-degree weather, feared extensive
damage to com unless rains come
quickly. Crops in Indiana were
badly burned. The drought was be
ginning to cause some damage to
the dry farming area of Northeast
ern New Mexico.
In the deep South the heat proved
beneficial to many crops. Rains and
floods caused crop damage in Louisi
ana, however.
Salt Lake City, Utah, traffic police
men proved their complaints about
hot feet were justified. They placed
a thermometer on oozy asphalt pave
ment and then announced the read
ing: 128.
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