Wilmington, July 20—The heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the history of the Wilmington bureau, fell here today, bursting culverts, inundating streets and flooding basements and lowlands. A total of 5 ½ inches fell during the six hours of the downpour, according to weather bureau officials. The property damage to streets, highways and buildings, it is estimated, will run into thousands of dollars.
An early morning drizzle changed into a torrential downpour at 8 o’clock, and continued almost without cessation until early this afternoon. Streets in the lower sections of the city were impassable, and ice wagons were utilized to remove marooned worshippers from at least one fashionable church.
On Market street, in the heart of the residential district, hundreds of youngsters in bathing costumes disported themselves in the water which stood three feet above the level of the sidewalks.
Pembroke Park, a public playground, was completely inundated, only the tops of park benches appearing above the water.
The basements of Trinity Methodist church and the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant were flooded and furniture therein damaged, although a greater portion was removed by members of the congregation when the waters grew menacing.
Concrete sidewalks on Princess street near Fourteenth were washed away, and the Wrightsville turnpike, between Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, was blocked by washouts along the way.
More than a hundred residents reported damage to their property by reason of flooded basements and porches.
From the front page of the Lumberton Robesonian, Monday, July 21, 1924
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84026483/1924-07-21/ed-1/seq-1/#words=JULY+21%2C+1924
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