AND FLOODS IN HERTFORDSHIRE. 
243 
and on each acre upwards of 150 tons, while the fall where heaviest 
must have been at least 200 tons to the acre, or over three tons per 
minute continued for an hour. 
The Gale of the §th of October , 1901.—Por an account of this 
gale I have to rely upon a newspaper report, hut I think it is 
worth a few lines being given to it in our ‘ Transactions.’ 
The ‘ Herts Advertiser ’ of the 20th of October gives the 
following graphic account:—“ Prom its elevated situation it 
would have been unreasonable to suppose that St. Albans would 
escape the fury of the storm which, during Sunday, swept over 
our island. ... It seems to have shared the full force of the 
gale, and, with the surrounding neighbourhood, to have suffered 
considerable damage. During the dull, cheerless morning the wind 
seemed to he gathering force, and about mid-day it had summed up 
sufficient vigour to blow ‘ great guns.’ It howled piteously around 
the houses, and thundered spitefully at the windows, sweeping 
before it all the foliage which was preparing to fall, and dislodging 
decayed branches in the trees wherever found. Tiles and slates, 
too, were displaced and came crashing down into the deserted 
streets; while the rain, which at times descended in torrents, 
had the effect of cleansing the roadways of much of their 
objectionable mud remaining from the previous downfall. In 
the gardens much havoc was wrought. The hulk of the ungathered 
fruit was hustled down and badly bruised, and the trees themselves 
did not escape damage in a good many instances. In exposed 
places dahlias and other plants were hopelessly beaten down, while 
the deluge of rain caused temporary rivers to flood the pathways 
and tear up the gravel in its hurry to find its proper level. . . 
One of the tall trees which stud the fence dividing one of the 
Heath Parm meadows from Sandridge Road, towards mid-day on 
Sunday, yielded to the tremendous force of the gale, and, reeling 
in an easterly direction, fell with a tremendous crash against the 
front of the cottages on the opposite side of the road. [Then 
follows an account of the damage done to the cottages.] Three 
or four large branches of one of the elm-trees situated at the corner 
of Church Crescent and Yerulam Road, in the garden surrounding 
the St. Albans Hospital, were also torn off by the wind, and, falling 
heavily upon the fence, wrought considerable damage. . . . 
Another tree in the Marlborough Road was also shorn of one of its 
arms, and everywhere branches, either large or small, were littered 
about the paths and roadways. 
“At Windridge a tree was blown across the road, and another 
in Oaklands Park was uprooted. Between St. Albans and London 
Colney the trees suffered considerable damage. Several heavy 
branches were dislodged in the neighbourhood of St. Michael’s, 
. . . Numerous large branches were severed from trees in 
Cassiobury Park, Watford, and some trees there were uprooted. 
. . . At Hedges . . . three fine elms have constituted 
a striking landmark and an ornament to the neighbourhood for 
many years . . . one of these splendid trees was blown down.” 
