THE WEST COAST STORM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 74

THE WEST COAST STORM.

Dear Dot, — We have been experiencing some very rough, windy weather lately. Last Thursday evening, about 5 o'clock, it came on to rain, after threatening to do so all day. On Friday morning a nor'-west wind sprang up, "nd blew more or less all day, besides raining. That night was windy and rainy, for all the world just like an equinoctial gale, and next morning two pine trees were lying on the ground, their trunks having been i snapped by the wind. The roof of the calves' house was also off, but, fortunately, its in- , mates escaped uninjured. Saturday was a ■ cold, miseTab.e sort of day, being a bit windy : and thowery, and towards evening looking as if it would ciear up. As night fell it grew rougher outside, and by 9 o'clock it was blow- , ing something dreadful, also raining. There ! was plenty of lightning, but very little thunder. 1 The win-d, coming from a westerly direction, blew in fierce gusts, blowing the rain ] on to the roof of the house in sheets, and making the house tremble all over, the win- , dows making a great rattle, and the cold ' air freely circulated through them and I the doors. The boisterous weather did i not keep me awake that night, but next ] morning a ioud peal of thunder woke me,., and it wasn't long before I was up and dressed | and outside to " see how the land lay." ! Round the orchards some forty pine trees i had been blown ovei during the night, some i clean out by the roots and other ,-snapped j off; while numbers of the standing ones were j minus tops and branches and in a very bat- j tered condition. Sunday was a cioudy, chilly day, but not very rainy of windy, but at night the wind rose, and although it was not such a wild night as the previous one it was bad enough for anybody. At the present moment it is raining, for though this is Thursday it ! is still cloudy and looks as if it will net j clear to-day any way. j

This gale is the worst one ever experienced in this part of the West Coast that my father remembers, and he settled here in 1870. It is the worst known at sea along tlie coast since 1876, I se-e reporter! in the evening paper, when ihe Hokitika bar was not workable for 52 days. The gale is said to have come over from Australia. Captain Edwin had -wired on the Thursday to expect bad weather, while Mr Wragge said that people in New Zealand had better look out for squalls, thai weather of a very severe character would be experienced between Victoria and Tasmania, and that, crossing the Tasman Sea, we should probably feel the effects of the tail end of the ga!o m New Zealand. Both weie correct, but some 01 the West Coast people no doubt think we got more than the tail end." The wind on Saturday night came with such a great roar and rush a while before 10 o'clock that it was- easily heard coming before it got neai enough to b3 felt; but when it did come, with rain, hail, thunder, and iightning, there was indeed a terrible row outside.

At Greymouth this howling gale first struck a little south of the southern tip-head, and, rushing on to Blaketown, did a great deal of damage to one cottage, while fences and chimneys suffered considerably, but the worst was yet to come. Crossing the lagoon, the wind took its way to Victoria Park, its course beini? marked by fences paid trees broken down and uprooted. Victoria Park evidently caught the full blast of tho tornado, damage beingdone to the extent of over £300 The p-*rk is reported to have been scattered with timber and iron blown from the fences, stables booths and grand stand. The grard stand suffeied worst, being unroofed and the verandah carried away. The scatteid jron from it was carried nio*t remarkhb'e distances. mo sheet 0 beins; discovered next day mnre than half a mile away as tho crow fl'es, which shows the force of the wind. The wind took a zigzag line across the town, carrying destruction in its course, and finally crossed the Grey River, and over the railway station at an altitude too high to do any more damage on the Cobden side of the river. A sheet of corrugated 11 on. thought to have come from the stand, struck a wall of a bouse 111 Chapel street, cut it through, and. hitting a brick chimney, knocked some of its bricks

off. The wall 13 said to have been cut so clean that all the corrugations are as distinct as if thpy had been done by a small saw. The wincl demolished a large number of fences, chimneys, and verandahs. Some houses had their roofs lifted, and the rooms inside were drenched with water. Windows in some places were b'own in and large trees blown down, some having their timber smashed into small pieces At the Suburban Hotel, a building which caught the winij fair and pquare, the verandah on two sides of it was lifted bodily up into thp air and carried right over the roof— whuh is broken and very much strained — and placed in the back yard Two men coming along the street, rrieeting the full force 01 the wind made a grab each at a 'lost of the verandah lo save themselves* from "being blown over, when imagine their great surprise and consternation when they felt the no-,ts shnping through their arms and saw the verandah disappear'

The wind which did all this and much more damage only took about three minutes to do it in but it is to be booed that Greymouth and the r >st of the West Coast will never experience =uch a night again in a hurry One of such is enough for a lifetime, t

The people up the Otira line did not escape the ga'e — indeed, there is a great deal of damage done up that way. both to the railway line and private nroperty, many huge , bush frees being hurled down in all directions. At Brunnerton the wind coming through ! the Gorge wrought havoc to many properties. | Tbe Presbyterian Church was lifted bodily j off its piles, and some of it was cariied twenty , varrjs away across tho road, and it ig now a ' complete wreck At Totara Flat it in said I to be the worst ga!e for 38 years, and it did damage to the settlers generally. That such gai"^ are not frequent is indeed a pood thing. | and it is to be hoped that wp shall not have ' another for a long time, for thip onp has done more clamase fhan enoueh. With love to yourself and all the D.L.F., — Yours truly. j WEST COASTFJB i