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Show Water Galore Project is Visited by Cloudburst, Cloud-burst, Wind, Lightning. Farms Gullied, Ditches Broken. Dairy Barn Struck Narrow Escapes From Deth Floods Elsewhere Thursday afternoon this section was visited by one of the heaviest rains in its history, the downpour assuming the proportions of cloud-bursts, in some quarters. Probably the section affected most, was the Project, the big acreage to the south-east of Milford, where flood, lightning and wind combined in causing caus-ing damage to the ranches and property in general. . About 3:30 p.m. a cloud-burst occured in the mountains, about nitie miles south-east pf MJ'ford, and in a ihort time the oaunty road was a seething flood of waters, a foot deep in places, while the big irrigation ditches were running over and, in some places breaking and precipitating large volumes vol-umes of watar on to the ranches. From ft point near the Fouts ranch, on the State highway, the waters came down in a torrent, flinging huge boulders across the road, cutting, washing, devastating. The ditches were like mere gutters m proportion to the amount of water suddenly thrown into them, and gave way in several places. While mainly following the county road, tb,e flood also spread t,o the. lawrlying grounds to the west and several farm houses were flooded. So far as learned, no stock was lost, though in many cases', it took prompt work to cut horses and cattle loose from their stalls. Both the high and low ditchts were running flood-tide, in some places the water spreading to a width of forty to fifty feet-. Qn the. old tkifl place, bridges ar,d checks were washed away, despite de-spite the efforts of many men to save them. Qua Richards, the ditch rider, had a narrow escape from drowing, while trying to swim the current, and but for the help of a companion, might have lost his life. At the Kelting ranch, known as the "Experiment Farm," lightning struck the dairy barn, tearing, out a hole fifteen feet wide and hurling the timbers from fjfty 9 sty feet away. Three small children werp playing in the hay-loft of the building at that time, but were uninjured. At :his ranch also, cellars of two houses were flooded and the water ran accross the ranch in a great torrent. At the Wm. Allen Ranch, just below the Kelting paoe, the fam-jly fam-jly Ys compelled to call for help and a neighbpr assisted jn moving the household tp the schpol-h.ou.se for safety, Mr. AH6B..u,aceded in cutting loosp his stqck but lost a few phickens, At the Jacquemin ranch, the water threatened the house for a time, but this danger soon passed. At this' writing, full reports are lacking as to the actual damage dona by the big storm, but enough is known to make it a safe guess that the ranchers have had all the "irrigating" they will need for some time to come. Cloudbursts in the mountains northwest, north-west, are also, reported, but beyond flooding the roads, no other damage has been done. The lightning was the sharpest seen here in many years and struck the trees in the mou.hta'm frequently. Nada also reports heavy rains, 1.27 in. in a brief "shower." |