VIOLENT STORM.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 215, 11 September 1929, Page 7

VIOLENT STORM.

POLAR CONDITIONS. Much Damage Caused In Nev South Wales. PHENOMENAL PALL OF SNOW I (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.; (Received 10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. i Violent rain squalls were experi x enced along the coast of New Soutl 3 Wales yesterday. The wind reachec - a velocity of 50 miles an hour. These conditions were accompanied lrs 3 a severe drop in the temperature. It is , reported that snow fell in some portion! of Sydney yesterday afternoon —ai ■ almost unprecedented occurrence. r Snow caused a fire which fused th( I, electric wires and plunged practicallj r the whole of the larger towns on the ! Bluo Mountains into darkness. , The snow weighed so heavily on the limb of a tree in Katoomba that th« limb fell across the electric wires whicl came in contact with the telephone ; wires. A transformer box burst intc flames and the electric lights failec • immediately. Snow in some places was ■ the heaviest for 30 years. Antarctic cold, a howling gale, driv- ; ing rain and wind-lashed sea were Syd- ' ney's lot throughout the night, and thest conditions are continuing this morning Vessels are sheltering along the coast. Blinding squalls were responsible for many motor accidents. Six people were seriously injured and sent to hospital, Many small boats in the harbour were swamped, and houses and sheds weru uojroofed in the suburbs. Rain fell in a deluge along the coast, cind flood warnings were issued to farmers. Mountainous seas are reported to be running in the Tasman.