Gale Strikes Lorain – August 2, 1934

Over the weekend, we finally had a little relief from the oppressive 90-degree heat of the last few weeks. The drop in temperatures came with a little rain, but that was okay.

Eighty-six years ago, things got a little cooler with rain as well. However, it was with disastrous results. As the article below from the August 3, 1934 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes, Lorain, Vermilion and other Northern Ohio cities had just been clobbered with fifty-mile-an-hour winds and a major rainstorm.

It was quite a storm. “Telegraph and telephone communication with Vermilion and Huron was cut off,” the article noted. "Motorists reported many homes damaged in the two towns. Cable lines to Kelleys Island and Put-in-Bay were damaged.

“Lake Shore electric railway cars were held up at Vermilion. Nickel Plate and New York Central Railroad officials reported trees blown across the tracks in several places.

“Linwood Park near Vermilion suffered heavy damage. Several parked automobiles were crushed by trees that fell in the high wind and summer cottages were badly damaged.

“Twenty-five men, women and children were marooned temporarily at Beaver Park, four miles west of here, when a road leading to a small island became covered with water. Two cottages, both empty were blown down at Beaver Park.

“An empty house on the D. V. Hahn farm near Vermilion was unroofed by the gale and a barn and house near La Grange [sic], eight miles south of Elyria, were blown down.

“Cedar Point, near Sandusky, was without lights for nearly an hour.

“Five summer cottages were wrecked.

"Cellars in Lorain and Elyria were flooded. Large puddles six inches deep slowed auto traffic in downtown district of Lorain.”

The storm eventually made its way to Cleveland. As the article noted, “In one hour, from 5 to 6 o’clock, the temperature dropped from 85 degrees to 64. Airplane schedules out of Cleveland Airport were crippled for more than an hour.”