Worst Storm For Years – Havoc in Mexborough District – Bus Passengers’ Ordeal

September 1939

Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 09 September 1939

Worst Storm For Years

Havoc in Mexborough District

Bus Passengers’ Ordeal

Householders in the vicinity of the Yorkshire Amalgamated Products Brickworks in Doncaster Road, Mexborough, suffered worst in the cloudburst and thunderstorm of Saturday, and one house in New Street, was struck by lightning. Six or seven tenants of houses in Hewitt Street, had their houses flooded to the depth of nearly two feet.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hutchinson, of 21, New Street, was struck by lightning, and the chimney pot and a large portion of the stack fell into the yard. Their two children, aged 7 and 41 years, were in bed at the time, but Mrs. Hutchinson was at her sister’s house, No. 14. She told our representative how, after putting the two older children to bed, she took her five months’ old baby to her sister’s home, and was assisting her to screen windows. She heard a “crash” but did not know that her home had been struck until her husband, who had just returned home, told her to help him get the children out. Rain poured through the bedroom ceiling, and down the walls, which had been papered only quite recently. She removed a bath full of water from the room. Soot lay inches thick on everything, and while she was endeavouring to clear up the mess, two vigilant special constables requested that she should put out the light. Householders in Hewitt greet were compelled to utilise the upper stories of their homes owing to the flood water streaming in to the front rooms and reaching a depth of nearly two feet. Mexborough Fire Brigade were finally called upon the pump the water away.

Narrow Escapes

The terrific storm which struck Conisborough and Denaby on Saturday was the worst the urban district has experienced within living memory. Several residents had narrow escapes and two cases in the Daylands Housing Estate were reported of electric meters being struck and going up in flames. The thunder and lightning persisted for two hours, and during that time there were two electric lighting failures. The trolley bus system had to be abandoned for a time. There were a number of road accidents, including one on the Sheffield Road, near Rock House in which a motor lorry, driven by John Alfred Ellis (33), fruiterer, of Badsley Moor Lane, Rotherham, was involved in a collision with a stationary car which was directed by the force of the impact into another stationary car standing in front of it.

The cemetery wall on the main Sheffield Road at Conisborough collapsed and traffic was held up at the spot for some time. Among the local residents who were involved in accidents was Mr. H. Thirlwall, Surveyor to the Urban Council, who collided with another car on account of flooding on the Doncaster- Wakefield Road about six miles on the Doncaster side of Wakefield.

On Sunday morning Council workmen were busily engaged in clearing the streets of a considerable amount of debris washed down from the Northcliffe Hills and other places, and for a day Elm Green Lane was closed on account of damage it suffered.

A Conisborough woman was sitting within a few feet of the fireplace in her kitchen when a fireball flashed down the chimney during Saturday’s storm, described the experience as similar to burning of the skin after a few hours in a hot sun by the seaside The woman was Mrs. J. G. Millington, of Old Road, Conisborough, who was sitting in her kitchen with her husband, two daughters, aged 13 and 4. and Mrs Millington’s 76 years’ old mother.

Wireless Set Destroyed.

The fireball came down the chimney with a tremendous clap of thunder, played on the hearth a few seconds, and then darted to the wireless set near the window. After destroying the interior of the set the fireball passed out through the window, taking all the pane of glass with it and wrecked the wireless aerial pole in the garden. Mrs. Millington was sitting between the fireplace and the wireless set and felt a burning sensation. “It felt as if my neck had been burnt by a strong sun for a few hours,” she said. The lace curtains of the window were burned and pots and pans were thrown in confusion about the kitchen. Fancy paper trimmings to the crockery and pan rack were ripped. Mrs. Millington (senr.), especially suffered shock, and up to Monday afternoon had not fully recovered.

Another house which was struck was that of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burton, of Rowena Road. Mrs. Burton was sitting on the cellar steps as being the most out of the way place, and with her was her sister, Miss S. Hanby. Mr. Burton was seated in a chair by the fireside. Lightning struck the chimney, followed an indoor aerial like a catherme wheel and then apparently struck Mrs. Burton in the back while she was in the act of rising from her seat on the stairs. But for her sister, who caught her as she was falling, Mrs. Burton would have crashed to the bottom of the cellar steps. Her limbs were constricted with the nerve tension and she had to be treated by Dr. D. M. Bell.

Broken chimney pits were hurled down the chimney into the kitchen by the shaft and soot was sent whirling through the house. Mr. and Mrs. Burton had returned earlier in the evening from a holiday at Bridlington.

Brook Overflows.

Premises at the Conisborough gasworks suffered severely from the effects of Saturday’s storm, and the huge volume of water which rose from the swollen brook near the works rushed through the works yard and carried away more than 20 feet of a solid brick wall about nine feet high. Much time had been spent in the past few weeks in restoring the yard to order after previous floodings, but the new inrush of water covered the yard to a depth of four or five feet, and brought with it several inches of sediment which was left in the yard when the waters receded.

To enter the yard the flood water invaded a stretch of road connecting Burcroft with Minneymoor Lane, Conisborough, and the Castle Inn which is situated at the corner of the swollen ,stream was marooned in the swirling water for some time.

A heavy roller used for carrying out road repairs at Burcroft, was carried away by the force of the water into the stream, and the greater part of a small disused building at the river side of the yard was also carried away.

Walls Laid Low.

Sixty yards of wall, thirty yards of the structure composing one side of the Denaby Main School yard, and the other the wall of the Denaby Comrades’ Club car park enclosure were demolished during Saturday night’s storm. Opinions differ as to whether the damage was caused by a shaft of lightning or by the huge volume of water which rushed past the walls like a miniature river, but Mr. Tom Kelly, of Doncaster Road, who witnessed the wall falling, said he saw lightning playing on the walls for several seconds. Bricks and heavy coping stones forming the top of the walls were swept away and hurled many feet. Sixty feet of wall was also demolished at Balby Street School, Denaby, by flood water, and two doors in the school yard were damaged. The houses at the bottom end of Wheatley Street, Denaby, were flooded out. The water entered at the front door and passed out at the back. Furniture had to be hurriedly removed, and in some caes it was floating about, this was also the experience of residents in Doncaster Road, Tickhill Street and Tickhill Square, and other parts of the village.

Bus Passengers Marooned.

The 9-30 bus out of Doncaster topped the rise near the bottom of the hill leading down past Hickleton Colliery on the main Thurnscoe-Hickleton road during Saturday night’s storm. The driver coasted down the rise . . there was a sudden splash . .. a cry from the passengers that the bus was filling with water. It came to a standstill, marooned in one of the worst storm floods experienced in the Dearne Valley.

This was the plight of twenty-six passengers who were stranded in the vehicle for over an hour and a half and had to escape eventually by climbing out of the window. It was an eerie experience as the water slowly crept higher and higher up the sides of the bus and the passengers stood on the scats with the water above their waists.

The conductress, Miss E. Greenough, interviewed by a “Times” reporter, said: “It was a fairly bad storm as we approached Thurnscoe. Nobody knew any more than Frank Healey, our driver, what lay in front of us, because of the black-out. It was very dark. Suddenly we ran into the water. Nobody saw it ahead, but the motor stopped and luckily for us the lights remained on; but even so it was very gloomy inside the bus. We thought the water would go down, but more and more poured in and we had to stand on the seats. Just a few of the passengers were worried and we tried to comfort them as best we could. Another chap started to sing songs and a few of us joined in. Nobody was worried then, but still the water poured in. It came up to our waists. One of the passengers decided to get help before the water came up any higher. It was Mr. Wall, of Goldthorpe. He got out somehow and went through the water. The rescue party came later.

A.R.P. Men on The Job.

The rescue party was the first aid unit of the Thurnscoe A.R.P. organisation. They hurried to the scene, smashed one of the large side windows of the bus and placed planks on an adjoining wall and pushed them into the bus. The passengers got through the window and with the exception of one woman who fainted, all safely reached the edge of the flood water. They were hurried to an adjoining cottage where a Good Samaritan provided tea and shelter for the whole party. All the passengers came from Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe with the exception of one Bolton resident. Three other buses were held up by the flood later, but the passengers managed to alight. The first bus was only taken away on Tuesday after much of the water had been pumped away by a unit from Hickleton Main Colliery.