1922 Storm
from the New Jersey Mirror Jul 19, 1922:
The record rain and electrical storm on Thursday caused much damage around Mount Holly. It was a veritable cloud burst and some of the principal streets of the town were inundated to the depth of a foot or more and resembled raging torrents. Much soil was washed down off the Mount and from nearby building operations on High street and was carried down the new road-way, leaving that thoroughfare in a very untidy condition after the water receded--a condition that the county road authorities and the township committee have failed to remedy thus far.
The volume of water was so great that the storm sewer which is supposed to carry the water from High down Water street, was inadequate and the miniature flood ppoured over the hump at the intersection of High, Water, and Garden streets and continued its passage to the creek by way of Main street. Pavements were overflowed and water ran into some stores and basements as thought that were the natural thing to do. An automobile, left standing along the curb, started off by the force of the water which poured around it, and was swept down the street until stopped by Dr. Longsdorf's car which was standing in front of the Mirror building. The creek and Buttonwood run rose rapidly and approached the flood stage as the result of the heavy rain fall but no serious damage was done, beyond the drowning of a number of chickens whose owners did not come to their rescue in time. Myrtle Stewart, 14-year-old daughter of Charles Stewart, a farmer, who occupies the Dennis farm along the railroad between Smithville and Mount Holly, was instantly killed by a bolt of lightning that cut a two-inch hole in the side of the house. The girl had gone upstairs to lower the windows and the bolt hit her while standing at a window. Her parents ran upstairs when they heard the crash and found the child dead. Her hair and clothing were burned by the deadly fluid and she was otherwise marked. Coroner Glover viewed the body and issued a burial permit. Another daughter, who was about the same age, was killed by a train near the Stewart farm about three years ago.
The family of William Kelly had a narrow escape during the same storm when lightning struck the tenant house in which they lived on the Asher B. Parker farm, near Pointville. The building and its contents, valued at $3,000 were destroyed. Another bolt struck a big barn, which burned with a loss of $10,000.
Camp Dix firemen saved other buildings on the same place. Another $10,000 loss occurred on the Richard Rahilly farm near Wrightstown, when the barns, outbuildings and contents were destroyed.
At the farm of John NAsh, a grain-filled barn valued at $5,000 was lost in a fire caused by lightning. A bolt that struck the home of Rev. B. E. Eldridge, of the Florence Baptist Church, darted around the kitchen until it found the refrigerator which it entered and apparently exploded in a cake of ice. Food was scattered around the room. Members of the pastor's family suffered only from a bad fright and the loss of provender. Lightning struck a weather vane which adorned the top of a barn on the Ivins Wright farm opposite the Fair Grounds during the electrical display which accompanied the sever storm. Some shingles were knocked off the roof but the grain-filled building was not set on fire. A large evergreen tree was struck in the Mount Holly cemetery and a tree at Edward Hack's boat landing was also hit by lightning.
The record rain and electrical storm on Thursday caused much damage around Mount Holly. It was a veritable cloud burst and some of the principal streets of the town were inundated to the depth of a foot or more and resembled raging torrents. Much soil was washed down off the Mount and from nearby building operations on High street and was carried down the new road-way, leaving that thoroughfare in a very untidy condition after the water receded--a condition that the county road authorities and the township committee have failed to remedy thus far.
The volume of water was so great that the storm sewer which is supposed to carry the water from High down Water street, was inadequate and the miniature flood ppoured over the hump at the intersection of High, Water, and Garden streets and continued its passage to the creek by way of Main street. Pavements were overflowed and water ran into some stores and basements as thought that were the natural thing to do. An automobile, left standing along the curb, started off by the force of the water which poured around it, and was swept down the street until stopped by Dr. Longsdorf's car which was standing in front of the Mirror building. The creek and Buttonwood run rose rapidly and approached the flood stage as the result of the heavy rain fall but no serious damage was done, beyond the drowning of a number of chickens whose owners did not come to their rescue in time. Myrtle Stewart, 14-year-old daughter of Charles Stewart, a farmer, who occupies the Dennis farm along the railroad between Smithville and Mount Holly, was instantly killed by a bolt of lightning that cut a two-inch hole in the side of the house. The girl had gone upstairs to lower the windows and the bolt hit her while standing at a window. Her parents ran upstairs when they heard the crash and found the child dead. Her hair and clothing were burned by the deadly fluid and she was otherwise marked. Coroner Glover viewed the body and issued a burial permit. Another daughter, who was about the same age, was killed by a train near the Stewart farm about three years ago.
The family of William Kelly had a narrow escape during the same storm when lightning struck the tenant house in which they lived on the Asher B. Parker farm, near Pointville. The building and its contents, valued at $3,000 were destroyed. Another bolt struck a big barn, which burned with a loss of $10,000.
Camp Dix firemen saved other buildings on the same place. Another $10,000 loss occurred on the Richard Rahilly farm near Wrightstown, when the barns, outbuildings and contents were destroyed.
At the farm of John NAsh, a grain-filled barn valued at $5,000 was lost in a fire caused by lightning. A bolt that struck the home of Rev. B. E. Eldridge, of the Florence Baptist Church, darted around the kitchen until it found the refrigerator which it entered and apparently exploded in a cake of ice. Food was scattered around the room. Members of the pastor's family suffered only from a bad fright and the loss of provender. Lightning struck a weather vane which adorned the top of a barn on the Ivins Wright farm opposite the Fair Grounds during the electrical display which accompanied the sever storm. Some shingles were knocked off the roof but the grain-filled building was not set on fire. A large evergreen tree was struck in the Mount Holly cemetery and a tree at Edward Hack's boat landing was also hit by lightning.
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