Boston, MA Flooding Damage, Feb 1886
A DELUGE OF WATERS.
NEW ENGLAND WASHED BY A WIDE WASH OF BATH.
ROXBURY EXPERIENCING HER SECOND COMING OF THE INEVITABLE -- A PARALELLOGRAM OF DEVASTATION -- FIFTEEN HUNDRED FAMILIES HOMELESS -- POINTERS ON THE FLOOD.
Boston, Feb. 15 -- The area at Roxbury flooded by the overflow of Stonybrook is constantly increasing. The water has risen over a foot since yesterday, and through some streets the current rushes at the rate of ten miles an hour. Two square miles of the city are now under water from two to eight feet. The section covered is nearly oblong in shape, and is bounded by Norfolk House hill on the southwest, Northampton street on the northeast, Shawmut avenue on the southeast and the Boston & Providence railroad on the northwest. The two latter constituting the sides of the oblong.
The source of the flood is the bursting of the confines of Stony Brook, near Norfolk hill. From that point the flood has steadily progressed toward the center of the city. It has passed Arnold street, the old Roxbury boundary, and has just reached Northampton street. The cellars, and in some instance the first floors, in 946 houses are flooded.
In many low sections houses are almost entirely submerged. Over fifteen hundred families are more or less affected, and a conservative estimate of the loss so far to buildings and stock is $500,000.
The territory drained by Stonybrook comprises many square miles in Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, and the snow and surface water in this section must all be added to the flood. At one point near Franklin Park, there is a lot of fifty acres covered with water three feet deep, all of which must flow off through Stonybrook.
The mayor, police commissioners and other city officials are in constant activity, establishing depots of supplies and arranging for the relief of the homeless and disdressed[sic].
A large share of the inhabitants of the flooded districts are still living in the upper stories of their houses, waiting for the floods to abate. They can only be reached by boats or rafts and many narrow escapes from drowning have occurred. Probably one houndred thousand people have visited the flooded quarters, and the streets in that vicinity have been black with humanity, and well nigh impassable since early morning.
Newark Daily Advocate Ohio 1886-02-15