HURRICANE IN THE CAROLINE ISLES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 110, 9 May 1895, Page 2

HURRICANE IN THE CAROLINE ISLES.

IMMENSE DAMAGE TO PKOPEETY.

FAMINE THEEATENED.

': Sidney, May 2. . i The hurricane season of 1895 wilL long be ' remembered in the Caroline Islands, where the -heaviesfc storm ever known,ip. those, parts vvas\ experienced.-. The hurricane ia compared bo the' greaV storm that bursb over 'Samoa* with the exception ■ tbsib'tjhSfe' was nob such loss of life, bub the damage Co property waa enormous, and some years muab clapse1 before, the islands can: recover from the calamity} The hurricane burst:,over; the islands on\January 20th, arid in a very shorb bime Yap^ the principal island; of the-1, group, .was devastated. More than twothirds of the houses (one account etaijee) w«re levelled! whilst and, trees were blown down and carried away, some' by hurricane^squalls and othera by the tidal waves which swept high "upon the island. Wlosb- of -the siWall trading--.vesseb were totally wreckedj, and there was some loss of, Irie, bub hovr : mu)ch cannot yet_ be f exactly ascertained. ,"■■ . ■ . :. -.., i" The: wind at first blew strong from the north, with heavy squalls from north-west," . and gradually increased in velocity to.hur.v ricaine pitch^ and then," writes aritrader, ""almost everything in its track was" blown down. The storm gradually became worse,* aJid veering south-east south, houßea>nd brees.went down ;in thousands, foreign; residents arad the Government {(Spanißh) b^ing hfiavyV sufferersi Terang Station, the, property of Captain D. O'Eoefe, was. lpft a complete wreck.' The captain's boats ivere smasheol to matchwood, and bis.houses were either < unroofed or completely de-. molished. A.b Jaluio. Trading. Company^ Station the storm played great havoc, and all the Company's houses were left roofless, : and their wharf carried away. Qne store cohbaining tKe trade and provisions was entirely levelled bo the ground, and all the goods were either blown into salt water or left ambhgsb the ruins. Some idea.of the fury'of the huti vicahe may bb gathered from the fact that th\e squalls carriedsea epray in blinding: clouds into a: fresh-water reservoir on the top of a hill, which made the I water unfit for use.." |'■;'•• The damage^tlone. upon the island," j writes a resident, "cannoc even be efitil mated.;: Thtiusande^ of houses and thousands of trees are bloVvn down. The copra crop in spoilt for the \nexb: 12 months, and . the taro plantations ardfullof rotten leaves and bushes; which • wili^Tender the foody in the •: ground unfib for cyinsumption. The outHtok is bad. Famine is^Btaring the natives in the face, aa thoir principal food, cocodnuts arid taro, is all gone. However, it is iioped thab the Spkiaish Governmenb will show «n act of huma.uity and provide for tho bo p\6br people who"; have losb their all."' V • ■ . ■■ ' ' "-: ■'-"