STORM SWEEPS RAROTONGA.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 79, 5 April 1926, Page 5

STORM SWEEPS RAROTONGA.

HEAVY DAMAGE CAUSED.

SMALL CRAFT WASHED AW AT.

FRUIT CROPS ALSO SUFFER,

Heavy damage was caused at Rarotonga by a northerly storm which swept the islands of the Cook Group on Thursday last, small craft along the foreshore being smashed up. News of the storm was first received at Wellington on Saturday by the secretary of the JPost and Telegraph Department.

Commencing at midnight on Wednesday, the storm quickly increased in fury and throughout Thursday morning lashed the islands of the group. At 10 a.m. the barometer reached its lowest reading of 29.48 inches, but after that liour commenced to rise, the storm abating at 3 p.ni. on the same date. The wind had then changed to the west.

JJarotonga, where heavy seas at times •washed right over the reef, received the full force of the storm, and it is from this island that the most damage is reported. Two launches and about a dozen lighters, all the property of the Union S.S. Co., were either washed away or smashed to pieces by the force of the ■waves. The main wharf at the island •was left intact, but a smaller structure and the Avatu wharf were both badly damaged.. Neither loss of life nor material damage to dwellings has been reported. Many of the roads have been iblocked and consequently the extent of ■damage suffered by the fruit crops is not jet available.

At Aitutaki Island, where the storm •was also very severe, the wharf was seriously damaged.

Avarua, the site of the Tnion Company's shipping plant, is the principal Tillage of the island, and as it is situated on the north coast of the island it received the full force of the storm. The loading of steamers is carried out t>y lighters, which are towed to and from the vessels by motor launches. The company's plant included over a dozen of these lighters, and only three

are reported to have survived the storm. As a result difficulty will be experienced in loading fruit tintil the broken boats !have been replaced. In order to relieve the situation as much as possible, the company is to dispatch six new lighters from Auckland by the steamer iNgakuta io-morrow afternoon.

Commenting on the storm this morning, a local journalist who has considerable knowledge of Cook Island matters, said that the present is a very unusual time for violent storms. The fact that a number of lighters were vashed away indicated that the blow lad broken over the islands very suddenly. On previous occasions the approach of a storm had been the signal for drawing all launches and lighters well clear of the beaches and making everything snug along the foreshore. The R.M.s. Makura, which left Wellington for San Francisco on Tuesday last, was due at Earotonga on Saturday, while the R.M.s. Tahiti, en route from San Francisco to Wellington and Sydney, is due at the island to-morrow. The latter steamer was originally announced to load fruit for Wellington, but now that the majority of the lighters have teen destroyed, it is uncertain whether she will be able to adhere to this part of her programme.

Leaving Auckland at 5 p.m. to-morrow, the steamer Ngakuta is to proceed direct to Rarotonga. Later she will visit Mangaia and Aitutaki to complete her fruit cargo for discharge at Wellington and Auckland.