THE STORM AT WASHINGTON

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 100, 28 April 1888, Page 3

THE STORM AT WASHINGTON

Washington, March 12.

The storm that visited Washington yesterday and to-day was one of the most remarkable known for years. In fact the Capital seemed to have been the centre of a miniature cyclone that brought with it a blinding succession of rain, snow, wind, and cold. In the early hours of the day the gutters ran high and in many low places the sewers were blocked, thus flooding the streets. The heavy rain continued until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when it turned to blinding snow, which stuck to everything it touched and turned to ice. As night fell the heavily laden telegraph wires began to come down and in many places the streets were blocked by them. -The police wires were out of order,and to add to the discomforts of the night the electric lights began to fail, and by midnight the city was almost in darkness, save for feeble gas jets. At the eigual office to-day it was learned that the storm was the result of the splitting of a storm-trough that on the day before yesterday extended south from Michigan. On Saturday nijrht it divided, formin cp two storm centres, one over Lake Erie and one in Georgia. The southern centre then began climbing up the coast, striking Washington yesterday morning. The centre itself did not reach here until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This took until nearly midnight to pass. The total rainfull amounted to 1.75 inches. Off Cape Henry the wind was blowing fifty-five miles an hour yesterday. The railroads leading into Washington have been blockaded by snow, fnllen trees, telegraph wires and poles, so the movement of trains has been seriously impeded, if not abandoned. At the Western Union office it is learned that in iis effect upon the wires the storm has been one of the worst ever known here. Washington has been almost completely isolated since 7 o'clock on Sunday evening. The morning and evening papers appeared without telegraphic information. _ The wind was kept up at a high velocity all clay, and at nine o'clock, to-night it had not changed. Tho sky is now clear arid it is growing colder.