The Worthington Advance

FLOOD IN BROOKLYN
Huge Water Main Bursts and Damage Estimated at $500,000 Results.
New York, Dec. 12.—For several hours Sunday an area of 20 blocks in the Twenty-eighth ward in Brooklyn was inundated by raging waters, which washed out the foundations of houses, tore down trolley and telegraph poles, imprisoned people in their houses and nearly drowned some who were caught by the flood. The damage will reach several hundred thousand dollars; the police think $500,000. The great water main at Hobart street and Central avenue burst at five o'clock in the morning. This main is four feet in diameter and when the pressure became too great the water shot up eight feet in the air, tearing a hole in the pipe itself seven feet long and a half of its circumference. For the first hour 1,500,000 gallons, it is estimated, rushed through the streets and there was little diminution for three hours. The flood came so suddenly that several persons were caught and three were rescued by life lines. Every house in the 20 blocks was flooded and a number of them so badly damaged that they will fall if they are not pulled down. Hundreds of others were damaged so badly that it will be a costly matter to repair them. Ten families were homeless Sunday night because the commissioner of buildings would not let them enter their shaky houses.