Towns Inundated By Fierce
Storm; Damages Heavy
Water Washes Away Business Places
Bridges and Trolley Car Tracks.
Thousands of dollars in property loss, interurban traffic held up and bridges and tracks washed away tells the story of storm damage done in Central New York during the night.

The principal sections to suffer were those in the vicinity of Elbridge, Skaneateles, Jordan, Marcellus, Weedsport and Camillus.

The City also felt the effect of the heavy downpour as the several creeks overflowed their banks, filling cellars in the southern section with water. No fatalities were reported. It is estimated that more than $75,000 damage was done by the flood to mills, factories, railroads and homes at Skaneateles, Skaneateles Junction and its near vicinity.

The Waterbury Felt Company suffered the heaviest loss, its power plant damaged to the extent of $40,000 when the water rushed over a 30-foot wall and into the building. Here the entire working force will be laid off for at least the day.

The Skaneateles Paper Mills was damaged to the extent of $5,000 and about 100 men will be out of work for a week. Innumerable foot bridges, two large concrete bridges and railroad tracks for hundreds of feet were washed out, and havoc and ruin were wrought to many homes and cottages along the course of the various creeks and outlets principally Nine Mile Creek.

The two new concrete bridges at Skaneateles Junction were washed out by the sweeping torrent. One connects the village with the Chatfield Road, the other with the Morris Owens Road.

An auxiliary dam at the Glenside Woolen mills was torn down, causing about $1,000 damage. The new dam recently installed at the plant with the advent of the Niagara Power luckily withstood the force of the raging waters.

Streets in Camillus
Are Under Water
Nine Mile Creek at Camillus started to rise at 7 o’clock this morning and at noon the volume of water was showing a steady increase. The flood washed out the abuttments of the new concrete town line bridge at Marcellus Falls and the structure fell into the creek.

The 11,000-volt power line running from a substation at Camillus to Marcellus was wiped out; 50 feet of the road running between Marcellus and Camillus at Half Way was washed away; 200 feet of track of the Auburn Division of the New York Central were destroyed at Sennett, while a section of the tracks and roadbed of the Syracuse & Auburn Electric Railway at Seymour’s Crossing was swept away by the water.

Traffic between Camillus and Marcellus is at a standstill. The water is washing roads away at several points. At the Marcellus Falls culverts, six feet of water was rushing through at noon, with prospects of heavy damage later in the day there unless the flood stopped. In Camillus fears are entertained for the Main Street Bridge over Nine Mile creek, which is now threatened.

South and Green Streets are raging torrents and boats are being used. O’Hara’s garage and cooper shop are flooded and the damage at noon was estimated at $1,000. The O’Hara family is marooned on the second floor of the residence.

The stockroom of the Camillus Cutlery Works is filled with water to a depth of four feet, while the cellars and bowling alleys of the Germania Clubhouse are under water.

O’Hara Suffers Worst at Camillus
The worst flood that has visited Camillus in the memory of the oldest resident did widespread damaged Monday and Tuesday, when Nine-mile Creek overflowed its banks. The crest of the flood was reached at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday when the stream was eight feet higher than normal. Two bridges on Mud Brook were washed into Nine-mile Creek and a gang of men was kept busy preventing the debris from collecting at the South Street bridge, part of which was also carried away.

The greatest damage in the village was suffered by M. J. O’Hara, and this was minimized by the removal of goods to places of safety with the assistance of neighbors. The O’Hara family were finally marooned upstairs by the flood which at its worst covered several inches of their lower floor. The high water covered this section of the village as far as W. B. Gorham’s on Main street, the Baptist church, E. E. Eliis’s and W. A. Kellar’s.

A canoe and a rowboat were used to transport the inhabitants, who also resorted to high water boots to rescue their property. The high water filled cellars which had never been flooded before.

The Nine-mile Creek bridge on Main street had too narrow a channel to admit the passage of the stream, which backed up and flooded the southern section of the village. The water south of the bridge was more than a foot higher than the water a few feet north.

The O’Hara residence, garage, barn and cooperage bore the brunt of the high water. Forty barrels of Portland cement for use in the construction of the new garage were among the losses suffered; 200 pounds of butter in jars, in the house cellar, were rescued by Paul Staatz, who donned a bathing suit and swam after the butter.

The creek did several hundred dollars damage to the Camillus Cutlery Company’s factory, where it overflowed into the stock room and prevented part of the empoyees from working. The grinding room, which is in a separate building northeast of the main factory, was entirely surrounded by deep water which was so high that the men had to be carried to safety one by one of the broad shoulders of Alphonse Schaaf.

Among the minor casualties of the flood, Ernest Crookes lost one chicken who died of chills and fever, resulting from undue exposure. Eugene Latters fell through the South Street bridge over Mud Brook and was fished out by William Keller. Mr. Keller, who had just given his barn a thorough cleaning, declared that he is cleaning out a layer of nearly two feet of mud which was deposited on the barn floor. At the Wiley residence, a large flock of young chickens were rescued in a bathtub and floated to the house for safety.

The water receded five feet on Tuesday between two and eight o’clock in the morning, and the stream is resuming its normal size.

Road From Here to Syracuse
is Torn Up by Cloudburst

Major Johnston, World War Veteran, Says Driving Over Stretch Just After Storm Was Worst Experience He Ever Had

The cloudburst of Saturday afternoon that wrought such havoc in Syracuse tore up the state road from here to that city in many places so that motorists should keep well under control proceeding from this side of Elbridge to the Salt City.

Maj. Frederick S. Johnston and a party of army officials made the trip to Syracuse just after the storm and he described the experience as the worst he ever had. This side of Elbridge he had to negotiate a stretch of road that had 18 inches of water over the crown and believing this to be the worst, he went through.

It was nothing to what he encountered further on. Both hills at Camillus are torn to pieces, he states, and the main street in Camillus was flooded with dirt and gravel tearing through in a mad torrent. Several places beyond were in very bad condition. Water was so high in places that it threatened to kill the engine and great stones had been washed over the highway.

He skirted the edge of the great lake that formed at West Syracuse and only found a part of the brick highway at the Syracuse city line torn out. He estimates that the highway from Elbridge to Syracuse suffered at least $100,000 damage by the flood. Returning yesterday, Major Johnston took no chances on this stretch, but came back by way of Split Rock and Borodino.

It is stated today that the highway is passable by way of Elbridge, but that motorists should use caution in many places, especially in negotiating the Camillus hills.

There was no heavy fall of water to the south of us on the Owasco Lake watershed and the level of the lake continues to sink. Major George A. Lewis of the Water Department states that the water has gone down 11.7 inches since last Tuesday, but is still a foot above high water mark. The flood gates will be left open until the normal high level is reached.

Owasco Lake Goes Down
For Total of 10 Inches
Waters of Owasco Lake are steadily getting down to normal level after the deluge of a week ago. This morning the gauges at the upper station of the Water Department showed that the water is 10 inches lower than the high water mark of one week ago. With the gates at the several dams all open, it is likely that normal flow will be recorded before the end of the week, provided the weather man does not open the flood gates of the sky for another deluge.