TERRIFIC STORM DRENCHES LONDON’S CROWDS

Evening Star, Issue 26139, 28 June 1947, Page 7

TERRIFIC STORM DRENCHES LONDON’S CROWDS

(Rec. 10 a.m.) LONDON June 27. One of the worst thunder storms for many years broke over London shortly after 11 a.m., * with a deluge of tropical intensity. It swamped the streets and drenched hundreds of thousands in lunchtime crowds. Play at Wimbledon to-day is unlikely. The terriffic thunder storm produced 20 minutes of thunder, lightning, and rain, equalling, if not exceeding in severity, the extent of the great storm of July 26, 1946. The wind,' earlier blowing about three miles an hour, whirled suddenly to gusts up to 60 miles an hour. London became dark as night, and trams, buses, and offices had to switch on lights. Many basements were flooded. The storm caught London’s lunch - time crowds, and thousands of women in flimsy summer dresses were soaked in seconds. A “ thunderbolt ” just before the rain dropped on Victoria Embankment Gardens, struck a tree, and slightly injured men sitting nearby. Several other people received electric shocks. The Embankment ran like a river itself beside the blotted-out Thames. The storm, which came after a sultry night, sent water streaming through the bomb-battered roof of the Houses of Parliament, and splashed on the Ministerial front bench, causing membens hastily to gather papers and move to other seats. Westminster Hall was probably never so flooded in its 1,000-year history. The members’ cloak room became an island, and girl secretaries were marooned, amid ankle-deep water, until workmen engaged in repairs built a plank bridge for them. Several members “walked the plank” with them. Some subterranean rooms of the House of Commons were flooded. The water rushed down the steps of the Press bar, and pressmen stood on chairs to finish their drinks. At the Old Bailey the judge had to transfer the case he was hearing to another court, because the jury seats were swamped by rain coming through the skylight. The storm broke over Windsor Castla just as Princess Alexandra of Kent was taking part in one of the > riding classes at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

The thunder storm affected many parts of Southern England, and flooded streets in Kent and Sussex towns, in-, eluding Brighton and other holiday towns.