Believe It or Not, in 1935, the Damage was Much Worse

This year, torrential rains have left area farmers wondering when, if at all, they would ever get their crops in. Back in 1935, there were also torrential rains; however, the storms inflicted a lot more damage.

The June 5th, 1935 Times-Tribune recounted that on Saturday the 2nd, a cloudburst dropped about an inch of rain in ten minutes and the rivers jumped the banks. Four main bridges, the L.B. Day Bridge, the Isadora Bridge, the Simpson Bridge, and the Wood Bridge all washed out along with numerous smaller bridges. The County Commission estimated that the damages were around $20,000, and they didn’t know when, if at all, the bridges would be fixed again.

The storm of June 2nd, 1935 was a precursor to the tornado that hit Worth a little over a decade later. There were several small tornadoes spawned by the storm. In Worth, Mr. & Mrs. Howard Hiatt were eating dinner when the storm burst through their room and dumped plaster into their dining room. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. W. A. Holmes had his barn damaged, a hole was blown in Charley Harris’ roof, and windows were blown out of the Kerfoot Building, one of the storefront buildings in Worth.

Despite all the rains, saturation flooding, and bluegrass growing as high as 56 inches, life went on. Wreck Glenn brought in a massive haul of peaches that were bearing fruit in clusters of 2, 3, 5, and 6 peaches. The Christian Church was planning band concerts every Saturday night at 8:30, which played various popular tunes of the day. The Christian Church also planned a play which, in part, would look ahead to 1958 and what life might be like. And the local American Legion was challenging the Businessmen to a game of Donkey Softball.