A TERRIFIC CYCLONE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 208, 2 September 1893, Page 4

A TERRIFIC CYCLONE.

We hear with unpleasanb frequency of the disasters caused by cyclones in America, and we rogreb to observe thab one of ex-

ceptional severity has just swept over several coastal States, leaving a ghastly rail of ruin and desolation. Of course the havoc wroughb by one of these violeut convulsions of Nature depends largely upon whab part of the country is subject) to its fury. If the storm is confined to the open prairie lands, comparatively little damage is done, but if it rages in a thickly populated district, with numerous towns and villages in its fatal line of march, the destruction of life and property is proportionately great. From tho accounts to hand, we learn thab some of the wealthy and populous States on tho sea coast have been swept with tho besom of destruction —Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia have all suffered, bub tho fury of the elements appears to have been mosfc severely folb in Soubb. Carolina. The force of tho cyclone may be judged from the havoc it wrought in Charleston, wherono less than 70churches were injured. The city is described as being almost in a state of ruin. To add to the miseries of tho inhabitants, Charleston was submerged by a tidal wave, and thousands whose houses wore not entirely destroyed by the cyclone have since been rendered homeless by the overwhelming waters. The damage inflicted by tho tidal wave has not been confined to the porb of South Carolina, bub the devastating effects have been felo more or less all along the Atlantic seaboard.

The meagre details contained in the cable messages give us bub a fainb idea of the havoc wrought by the cyclone. If we may judge, hoiyever, by previous occurrences of tho kind on a smaller scale, the devastation wroughb in the presenb instance must be appalling in tho fullest senso of the word. Ib is hardly two months ago since Pomeroy, a town of 1,000 inhabitants, in the State of lowa, was struck by a cyclone and converted into a heap of ruins. From a description given in an American paper, the scene was of a moßb heartrending description. The terrified inhabitants saw the storm approaching, " bounding alone the prairie like a huge ball." In a few minutes, houses, peopleand animals were enveloped in the whirlwind of destruction, The air was filled with flying

timber or whirling trees, and resounded with the shrieks of tho wounded and trie moans of the dying. Every building in the place was swopb away, 70 persons were killed and large numbers fatally inured. In some instances whole families perished, and when the du«b cloud cleared away, so completely had the tornado done its fatal work that acres of debris marked the site of what) had boen a short time beforo a flourishing township. The full extenb of the damage done by tho latest cyclone cannot yet be accurately ascertained" It is believed that ab least 700 lives have been lost. The destruction of proporcy must be enormous. In Georgia alone tho damages are estimated at 10 million dollars, and the general derangement of trade cannot fail to seriously aflecb cho interost3 of all classes of tha community.