Word: waterspouts
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...last week a black cloud rolled in from Lake Erie toward Conneaut, Ohio, dropped from its belly a thin, whirling column which touched the dark water, churned up a fountain of spray. This towering waterspout, more than 3,000 ft. high, moved in over the fringe of the town, where it began to behave like a tornado. It smashed windows in a score of houses, ripped off a porch, reduced a chicken coop to matchwood, hurled a bevy of screeching fowl high into the air. Prancing into the Nickel Plate Road yards, the funnel sucked up some heavy cans...
...Hour later another and smaller waterspout raced in from the lake toward awe-struck Conneaut, expired in a lakeside park...
...Last fortnight a tall waterspout formed off Staten Island, N. Y. played around for ten minutes before vanishing, did no damage. Coast guardsmen estimated its height at 2,000 ft., biggest ever sighted in New York harbor, first of any size since...
Ancient mariners regarded waterspouts as dragons, tried to disperse them by stamping their feet, shouting, beating drums, clashing swords. When gunpowder came into use, sailors tried to break the columns by shooting cannon. The spouts are chiefly vapor but may contain fresh water condensed from the cloud or salt water sucked up from the sea. Like tornadoes they are atmospheric vortices caught by conflicting air currents, with partial vacuums at their cores. In general, however, they are much less violent than the average tornado, do damage only by dropping their loads of water. If a land tornado passed...
...Doumers did not actually move in until the Elysée had been furiously swept, scrubbed, dusted for two days. After this preliminary assault. General Housekeeper Mine Doumer will lead a frontal attack on the old palace by painters, paperers. floor-waxers, basement-scrubbers, waterspout fixers...